meta ethics DETAILED

• Cognitivism


  the view that moral judgements are propositions which are 'truth-apt' so are statements that can be considered true or false
• Non-cognitivism


  the view that moral judgements don't express propositions that are 'truth-apt' so can't be true or false
• Realism


  the view that moral properties are objectively real in the world and that moral terms refer to these real properties
• Anti-realism


  the view that moral properties do not exist in the world and that moral terms refer to something else entirely
• Naturalism


  the view that moral properties are just natural properties and can be examined as such. They relate to something we can examine through sense experience and science (eg utilitarianism believes that goodness is identical to happiness)
• Non-naturalism


  the view that moral properties are a distinct kind of property and while they do exist, we cannot easily examine them through sense experience and science
• Reductionism


  the claim that things in one domain (moral properties of goodness and rightness) are identical with some of the things in the other domain (certain natural properties)
• Non-reductive naturalism


  the view that moral properties are natural properties but they aren't reduced to just one natural property (eg virtue ethics)
• Naturalistic fallacy


  According to Moore, the mistake of identifying moral good with any natural property. You cannot equate what IS (a natural property) with what OUGHT to be (a moral property)
• Open question argument


  Moore's argument that identifying the property 'good' with any other property is never correct because whether that property is, in fact, good is an open question, whereas whether some property is itself is not an open question
• intuitionism


  the theory that some moral judgments are self-evident to our faculty of intuition i.e their truth can be known just by rational reflection upon the judgement itself. Moral intuitions are a type of synthetic a priori knowledge
• what are the 2 types of properties according to Moore?


  simple properties; complex properties
• what type of property is goodness according to Moore?

  simple property (cannot be broken down into constituent parts eg yellow)
• Hume's fork


  we can have knowledge of just two sorts of claim: the relations between ideas and matters of fact. This is used as an objection to ethical naturalism as claims of objective moral facts do not fit either prong of the fork and so cannot count as knowledge
• Hume's matters of motivation argument


  moral judgements can motivate actions, but knowledge of facts alone cannot motivate actions. Therefore, moral judgements are not judgements of facts
• what is a criticism of Hume's is-ought gap?

  Seale argues that there are certain facts about humans which have implications for how we ought to act eg if we make a promise, we ought to keep it
• the is-ought gap


  Hume's claim that judgments about what ought to be the case are very different from judgments about what is the case, and cannot be deduced from them. The claim is made as an objection to moral cognitivism
• error theory


  the theory that moral judgements make claims about objective moral properties, but that no such properties exist. Thus, moral judgements are cognitive but are all false. Moral language, as we mean to use it, rests on a mistake
• emotivism


  the theory that claims that moral judgements express a feeling or non-cognitive attitude, typically approval or disapproval, and aim to influence the feelings and actions of others
• prescriptivism


  the non-cognitive theory that moral judgements are prescriptive, that is, moral judgements provide commands and recommendations about how to act
• what are 3 theories for the origins of moral principles?

  reason, emotion/attitudes, society
• which philosophers support the theory that moral principles originated in reason?

  Hobbes; Kant
• what theory argues that moral principles originated in reason?

  social contract theory
• explain social contract theory


  social contract theory argues that the state of nature is the worst possible state for humans since it would render life 'nasty, brutish and short' and so it is rational to implement societal rules which take us further from the state of nature, because this is beneficial for humans
• why does Kant think that morality originates in reason?


  reason tells us that the morally right act is one which comes from the recognition of a duty, so moral good is determined rationally, not from emotions or desires
• what is Kant's theory of the origins of morality called?

  moral rationalism
• where did Hume think morals originated from?

  emotions/attitudes in society
• explain Hume's attitude to the origins of moral principles


  Hume thought that our judgements about someone's behaviour originated in our feelings about their behaviour, not the actual behaviour itself, so moral principles have their origins in our emotions, not actual facts about the world
• what is a consequence of Hume's view of the origins of moral principles?


  it leads to moral anti-realism as moral judgements cannot be true or false because they are just expressions of emotions
• which school of thought believed that moral principles originated in society?

  moral relativism
• which philosopher thought that moral principles originated in society?

  Marx
• what is an example to support Marx's belief that moral principles originated in society?


  the powerful elite under capitalist societies were those who owned large amounts of private property, so they decreed that the stealing of private property was immoral because if stealing took place it would reduce their societal power
• what is an example of a naturalistic theory?

  utilitarianism
• how does utilitarianism reduce morality to a natural property?

  good = pleasure
• what is an example of a non-reductive naturalist theory?

  virtue ethics
• what example does Moore use to show how 'goodness' can't be defined?


  he thought the concept of 'good' was undefinable and self-evident, like the concept of 'yellow' because we can understand both of them but can't define them in terms of anything else
• how is 'good' different from 'yellow' for Moore?


  moral properties are unlike natural properties because they cannot be observed through our ordinary senses since they are evaluative not factual
• how did Ayer challenge moral realism?


  used the verification principle to argue that statements were only meaningful if they were analytic or could be empirically verified. since ethical statements are neither, they are meaningless
• what is Mackie's argument against moral realism?

  cultural relativity
• how does cultural relativity challenge moral realism?


  it shows that moral judgements vary depending on the society, so either there are objective moral values and some people are just misinterpreting them, or there are no objective moral values. it is more convincing to argue that there are no objective morals, therefore anti realism is correct (abductive argument)