Meta Ethics

• What are the two main sections of meta ethics?

  Cognitivism and non-cognitivism
• Cognitivism 


  Moral judgements express mental states (beliefs) that can be analysed to find out whether they are right or wrong - E.g. She likes strawberries, murder is wrong.

  • Objective
  • Mind-independent
• Non-cognitivism 


  Moral judgements express something other than a belief, like attitudes or emotions, that cannot be analysed to find out if they're right or wrong. E.g. 'Boo! Murder!' or 'Don't torture animals'

  • Subjective
  • Mind-dependent
• Give an example of how cognitivism differs to non-cognitivism

  Saying 'Sarah finds that joke funny' is different to the act of Sarah laughing at the joke - the first can be analysed to find out if it is true or false, the second isn't something we can analyse in the same way. In the same way, a cognitivist argues that a moral judgement like 'murder is wrong' can be made, whereas a non-cognitivist would claim that it's the same as saying 'Boo! Murder!'
• What two categories does cognitivism break down into?

  Realism - mind independent

  Anti Realism - mind dependent
• What two categories does moral realism break down into?

  Naturalism and non-naturalism
• Naturalism 


  Right and wrong can be found in the world and is provable. E.g. theories that can say 'good is ...'
• Examples of naturalist ethical theories


  Utilitarianism - 'good is pleasure'

  Deontology - 'good is abiding by your moral duty'

  Virtue ethics - 'good is perfecting your virtues'
• Example of a non-naturalist ethical theory 


  Intuitionism (Moore)
• Example of an anti-realist theory 


  Error theory
• Examples of non-cognitivist theories 


  Emotivism and prescriptivism
• Non-naturalism 


  Moral judgements are beliefs intended to be true or false but they do not need to be analysed or justified in terms of anything else, like natural properties, they just are.
• How does ethical language break down?


  Cognitivism

  Moral realism vs Non-realism (error theory)

  Naturalism vs Non-naturalism (intuitionism)

  
  

  OR

  
  

  Non-cognitivism

  Emotivism vs Prescriptivism