IB Philosophy Revision Guide: Meta-Ethics and Normative Ethics
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Course
Philosophy
Institution
UWCSEA
This revision guide covers all branches of meta-ethics and normative ethics required for IB HL/SL Philosophy Paper 1. Each theory includes keywords and each subtopic defines key terms. There are also some critiques of certain normative and meta-ethical theories present.
ETHICS
Table of Contents
BACKGROUND....................................................................................................................3
Ethics vs Morality.........................................................................................................................3
Defining Ethics..............................................................................................................................3
Pertinent Questions......................................................................................................................3
Ethics of Care................................................................................................................................4
META-ETHICS.....................................................................................................................4
Moral Realism..............................................................................................................................4
Ethical Naturalism........................................................................................................................4
Intuitionalism...............................................................................................................................4
Ethical Non-Naturalism:...............................................................................................................5
Ethical Non-Cognitivism................................................................................................................5
Bridging the Is-Ought Gap............................................................................................................5
Ethical Subjectivism............................................................................................................5
Logical Positivism.........................................................................................................................5
Emotivism, A.J. Ayer.....................................................................................................................6
Prescriptivism, R.M. Hare.............................................................................................................6
Cultural Relativism.......................................................................................................................6
CRITIQUES....................................................................................................................................7
Argument from Moral Convergence...............................................................................................................7
Argument from Self-Appraisal........................................................................................................................7
Additions:.....................................................................................................................................7
Intuitionism........................................................................................................................7
G.E. Moore...................................................................................................................................7
W.D. Ross.....................................................................................................................................8
Customs to Question....................................................................................................................8
NORMATIVE ETHICS...........................................................................................................8
PLATO AND JUSTICE......................................................................................................................8
ARISTOTLE AND VIRTUE ETHICS....................................................................................................9
DIVINE COMMAND THEORY.......................................................................................................10
AQUINAS AND NATURAL LAW....................................................................................................11
KANT’S DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS................................................................................................13
THE SOCIAL CONTRACTS.............................................................................................................15
1
, 1. Natural Anarchy, Thomas Hobbes...........................................................................................15
2. The Republic, Thrasymachus...................................................................................................16
3. Authority of State, John Locke................................................................................................16
4. Natural Order, Jean-Jacques Rousseau...................................................................................16
UTILITARIANISM.........................................................................................................................17
1. Act Utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham.......................................................................................17
2. Rule Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill.......................................................................................18
NIETZSCHE AND EGOISM............................................................................................................18
FLETCHER’S SITUATION ETHICS...................................................................................................19
AYN RAND AND OBJECTIVISM....................................................................................................20
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, BACKGROUND
Ethics vs Morality
People normally use the terms Ethics and Morality interchangeably
Sometimes people make a distinction with morality having to do with principles, as if
we have a moral code and ethics has to do with the exercise of this code
For example applied ethics, bioethics, business ethics
We will use the terms interchangeably
Defining Ethics
Ethics is looking for the best way to live according to certain principles
A set of rules that guide our actions
Examples:
o Don’t kill
o Don’t steal
o Don’t lie
Sets a framework/foundation for how we behave in society
Principles based on VALUES
Values are intrinsic
Pertinent Questions
What values do we have?
What are our moral values?
What is a good person and what is a good action?
o A good person is someone who is not blinded by selfish gains
o Is guided by selflessness and feelings of empathy and sympathy
o Good action: something that benefits others, that is done for its intrinsic
value and because it causes good consequences
o Good intentions leading to good consequences
o What can we do to promote the happiness and well-being of others?
Put ourselves in others’ shoes
‘Veil of ignorance’
Give to others what we have in abundance ourselves
Emotional and psychological relation- feel empathy and sympathy
What moral obligations do we have toward other people?
o Treat them like we want to be treated
When should we be held morally responsible?
o When we treat someone in the way that we don’t want to be treated
o Shows that intrinsically, we know better, and could have acted differently
o ‘When we know better’
o When we do something with bad intentions which causes bad consequences
Should we be held morally responsible for actions with good intentions but bad
consequences?
o For example, someone with mental disability may not know what is
acceptable
Is it wrong to divulge a secret?
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