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Summary Ethical language (Meta Ethics)
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A level summary of ethical language religious studies Edexcel for the 2016 specification
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Meta EthicsMeta-ethics a) Cognitive and non-cognitive uses of language, realism and anti-realism,
language as factual or symbolic, the nature of ethical assertions as absolutist or relative,
ethical naturalism, the naturalistic fallacy, the is–ought gap, the problem of the open
question, ethical non-naturalism, intuitionism, prescriptivism. b) Emotivism, the influence of
logical positivism on emotivist theories of ethics, ethical language as functional and
persuasive. Developments of the emotivist approach and criticism of it. With reference to the
ideas of G E Moore and A J Ayer.
Meta ethics is the foundation of all ethical theories and thought. Scholars are interested in
working out what we mean when we say something is ‘wrong’, ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘right.’ It
discusses whether there is such a thing as morality.
Cognitivism & Non- cognitivism
Cognitivism is the position held that moral statements’ function is to convey facts.
Cognitivists believe that ethical language has true meaning and that moral language is in
fact meaningful. They also believe that actions can be right or wrong and that moral facts
exist. Cognitivists believe that morality is testable and beyond personal choice and that
moral absolutes should be taken seriously.
Non cognitivism is the position held that moral statements do not convey facts and are in fact
meaningless. Non- cognitivists believe that words cannot be meaningful because they are
not subject to being true or false. They believe that there is no such thing as right or wrong
and that moral truths do not exist. They also believe that moral facts are just emotions and
there is no such thing as right or wrong actions.
Absolutism and moral-relativism
Absolutism is the position held that ethical rules are true and apply to all situations. It doesn’t
depend on any circumstances. Absolutists believe that ethical languages are moral facts and
that they have meaning. Ethical principles can be established without experience ( a priori).
These ethical rules are true irrespective of our opinions or the outcome.
Moral relativism is the position held that moral judgments differ from person to person and
that morality is relative to the specific circumstances. Moral- relativists believe that ethical
language is meaningless. What determines ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are grounded in social customs,
moral judgments are true or false relative to the context. Moral judgments vary from culture
to culture.
Realism & anti-realism
Realism is the position that moral properties exist in the world and there is in fact a moral
reality. Realists believe that morality can be true objectively, so has meaning. For example,
good exists in the world, good exists independently of us and good is not created by
humans. Morality is objective and is a part of the world.
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