This a document which contains class notes on the topic of 'Meta Ethics'. Includes:
- Specification based notes
- Key words/Phrases
- Useful examples
- Exam questions (some with answers)
**Normative ethical theory tells you what is right , wrong and an account of how you
ought to act
Meta ethics: what ethics actually is – concerned w the status of moral judgements…
moral properties ( what is goodness)
2 big questions in meta ethics:
1. Where do our moral principles come from ?
e.g. a principle like ‘is stealing wrong’ – what is the origin of this
possible answers:
- reason
- emotion/attitudes
- society
2. Are there moral facts ?
e.g. a principle like ‘stealing is wrong’, is not fact – it’s a social concept?
Cognitivism vs Non-Cognitivism
Ethical Cognitivism Ethical Non-cognitivism
- Moral judgements express beliefs - Moral judgements express non-cognitive
- Can be true or false attitudes
- Aim to describe the world - Moral judgements don’t make claims
- E.g. ‘lying is wrong’ = expresses belief about reality
that lying is wrong + is either true of - They are not true or false (they don’t
false state facts
Claims about facts: Art:
e.g. physics, geography etc e.g. visual art, literature, drama, music etc
These are making propositional claims – A piece of art cannot itself be true or false
they can be true or false
Ethical Cognitivism
Expressing beliefs that can be true or false.
e.g. lying is wrong …. They’re moral facts
Ethical Non-Cognitivism
Moral judgments do not make claims about reality and are not true or false ( they are
not fact stating)
e.g. lying is wrong… they aren’t moral facts
Moral Realism
Objective moral properties (e.g. ‘goodness’) that exist and are mind-independent
e.g. ‘goodness’
Moral Anti-Realism
There are no mind-independent moral properties
e.g. ‘goodness’
** most metaethical theories are cognitivist + realist or/ non-cognitivist + anti-realist
Moral Naturalism pt1 (cognitivist + realist)
- Naturalism : moral properties (goodness) are natural properties
- Natural properties = relating to the natural world
e.g. ‘goodness’ = a property in the world that we experience
Reductive Naturalism
Moral properties are identical with natural properties…
…Moral properties can be reduced to natural properties
Moral Properties = Natural Properties
Utilitarianism = for of reductive naturalism >>> drawn towards pleasure and repelled from
pain – PSYCHOLOGICAL HEDONISM
E.g. ‘Goodness’ (moral property) = ‘Pleasure’ (natural property)
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