intuitionism

• Key points intuitionism

  moral language is an objective fact and is cognitive - based on fact

  
  

  G. E Moore

  • goodness cannot be defined, measured or quantified - it is a 'simple notion' - good is just good and that's all
  • yellow is yellow - it can't be defined - it is just yellow and we know it is when we see it/ point it out - intuition
  • we know right and wrong intuitively - not thru experience
  • there is no discussion for proof because this involves evidence which comes from the empirical world - intuition cannot be measured empirically
• Key thinkers intuitionism

  H.A Pritchard

  • it is a hopeless quest to try to find arguments to determine what our moral obligations are
  • duty and good are 2 separate things
  • reason looks at facts of a situation
  • intuition decides what to do - shows us moral obligation
  • sometimes we need to imagine ourselves in the situation to decide the right thing to do
  • not all can intuit moral truth to the same extent as others
  • morals differ - some people have more clarity around moral institutions - more enlightened

  provides us with a wider range of moral vocabulary - duty obligation
• Key thinkers intuitionism

  W.D Ross

  wanted to understand the moral principles people may use when answering moral questions

  • in any given situation, moral duties/ obligations become apparent - prima facie (7 types):

  1. duty of fidelity - honesty and loyalty
  2. duty of reparation - when we do something wrong
  3. duty of gratitude
  4. duty of justice
  5. duty of beneficence - helping others
  6. duty of self-improvement
  7. duty of non-malefience - not harming others

  
  

  • not in priority order and do not tell us what to do - only considered in situations
• Key thinkers intuitionism

  W.D Ross

  Principles may conflict or change from culture to culture - culturally relative

  • goodness cannot be defined in natural terms
  • moral principles cannot be absolute
  • we may not know what to do with certainty but we can improve our ability to make judgements through experience of previous moral decision-making

  Ross provides a solution to the Kantian problem of a son who is required to fulfil his duty by being honest and telling a murderer where his father is

  • we must discern between our duties - preservation of life over honesty
• EVAL int

  Strengths:

  • allows us to answer issues clearly and almost instantly
  • Russell - not all a priori knowledge is mathematical or logical - we can know what good is objectively
  • Pritchard provides a range of moral vocabulary
  • Ross - discerns between different duties - prima facie
  • we naturally use good and bad as part of our ocab - shows that we know what it means without having to define the meaning
  • offers a way around the open question argument and naturalistic fallacy
• EVAL intuitionism

  Weakness:

  • unfalsifiable - cannot prove or disprove it - is that helpful - verification principle
  • Freud: psych theories - intuition and morality are shaped by our environments and experiences in childhood - therefore intuition is subjective
  • if moral truths = self-evident then how comes Moore = teleological and Ross = deontological - who is correct
  • makes it impossible to resolve disagreements between what is right and what is wrong - we have different intuitions
• link to conscience 


  Aquinas’ idea of the conscience/ ability to reason - similar to intuition - innate ratio

  Ratio - God-given within us - use it with observation of the world to decide the right thing to do - understand the right thing to do - conscientia (process)

  • all goodness comes from the goodness and perfection of God - therefore is objective - God is unchanging - so goodness also must be objective