Intuitionism

• Intuitionism


  Moral Truths can be/are self-evident and indefinable. The good cannot be definite, it is intuitively known.
• Scholars - G.E.Moore


  The colour yellow is self-evident and indefinable. We can see it, but we cannot describe it. In the same way, goodness can be seen, but it is indescribable. Good is a 'simple concept, that we just know intuitionally. Complex ideas are ideas that can be broken down into parts eg. A horse: has legs, a mane, hoof, but simple ideas (goodness) cannot be broken down into parts.
• "good is good, that is the end of the matter."
• AO1


  Realist, right and wrong objectively exist, and there are moral facts. Cognitive, conveys a fact and it is objective. Morality derives from external factors, beyond personal preference. Moral truths cannot be discovered by observation of the natural world.
• Strengths


  Presents morality as objective. The good is the good, it is universal and self-evident. Countries having laws against murder shows us that there is an agreed good.

  Avoids the naturalistic fallacy because morality is known intuitively rather than being discovered empirically.
• Weaknesses


  People have different ideas of 'good' because people's intuitions differ. Mackie argued that the idea of good is shaped by cultural conditioning based on societal values. This undermines the presentation of morality as being objective.

  A.J Ayer: Good is a matter of personal preference/emotional viewpoint, not intuitive. Rejected the idea of non-natural moral properties that we intuit as unverifiable and meaningless. Morality is a matter of opinion, expression of emotion, not intuitively known.