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OCR Religious Studies "Good is meaningful" essay Meta Ethics
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A* meta ethics essay on "Good is meaningful" OCR Religious Studies
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“Good is meaningful.” DiscussMeta ethics questions the basis of ethical language examining the meaning of concepts such
as good, bad, right and wrong. Good is one of the most important concepts within meta
ethics as it is the foundation for our understanding of what is moral and ethical. Good is
indeed meaningful because it is the basis for our actions and decisions, which in turn shape
our society and culture. Whilst there is a lack of consensus surrounding how good should be
defined and its subjectivity, it is evident that it does hold meaning, being such a large part of
our daily lives.
The ethical theory of Naturalism holds the view that morals are fixed since they can be
observed as part of the universe. F.H Bradley suggests that good is universal, holding
resolute meaning, which influences how we should behave. He stresses the importance of
self-realisation and how our morals lead us to it. An example he uses, to illustrate that good
can be tested objectively and empirically, is that the proposition “honesty is good” is
actually saying “honesty helps realise my potential and my place in society”. This suggests
that Bradley believes good holds a fixed and objective meaning. However, Hume criticises
Bradley’s statement that moral claims should be derived from reason but rather says
“morality is determined by sentiment”. He argues that good is not meaningful as good and
evil are subjective since there is not empirical evidence. For example, when someone has
been murdered it is a fact that they are dead, but you cannot justify and verify the
wrongness of the murder. Despite this criticism, Naturalism still shows good is meaningful
through the support of Phillipa Foot. Being another naturalistic thinker, Foot uses the
example from “Memoirs of a Revolutionist” to illustrate how good is something fixed and
intrinsically meaningful. The example expresses how a geographer, observing a tribe of
indigenous people, upholds his promise not to photograph them even when he is presented
with the opportunity of doing so whilst they are asleep and unaware. This, Foot would
argue, illustrates how ‘good’ is a fixed duty and not relative to the people concerned, but
concrete. Here, both naturalistic thinkers explain that good is meaningful since it is fixed and
observable, regardless of its subjectivity.
Furthermore, the ethical theory of Intuitionism also describes that good is meaningful. G.E
Moore, in his “Principia Ethica”, argues that “good is just good and that is the end of the
matter”. He believed it is indefinable but self-evident through intuition. He compares it to
the fact that people know what yellow is and can recognise it, but it cannot actually be
described. This suggests that good is indefinable but still has intrinsic meaning as just as we
recognise the colour yellow, we intrinsically recognise good. However, JL Mackie raises the
important point of how good cannot be considered meaningful without action. Mackie
explains that Moore’s argument is weak without being accompanied by people acting on
their intuition. As well as this, Nietzsche criticised Moore's “yellow” analogy, and argued
that one person may see good as one thing whereas one may see good as another,
suggesting the issue of "ethical colour blindness" implying that the subjectivity of the word
good once again poses questions to whether it can be considered meaningful. Regardless,
W.D Ross stated that certain things are just good. He calls these “Prima Facie Duties” and
examples of these are fidelity, justice, and beneficence. Ross recognises that people cannot
know all the facts about a situation so judgements must be based on what’s right and wrong
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