Metaethics
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1. Explain moral re- The view that there are mind-independent moral proper-
alism ties and facts
2. Explain moral The view that there is no such thing as mind-independent
anti realism moral properties or moral facts. Moral properties are con-
structs of our mind.
3. Explain cogni- The view that moral judgements express cognitive mental
tivism states - i.e. beliefs - that are capable of being shown to be
true or false like other facts eg 'Murder is wrong' can be
viewed in the same way as 'Water boils at 100 degrees'.
4. Explain non cog- The view that moral judgements express non-cognitive
nitivism mental states (do not express how the world is), which
are not capable of being shown to be true or false. They
express views/emotion such as 'Hooray', 'Boo', 'Don't do
that'.
5. Explain natural- Naturalism is a moral realist theory which claims that
ism (cognitivist) moral properties exist independently of our minds as nat-
ural or physical features of the natural world, such as
the properties discoverable through the sciences (gravity,
magnetism). In this way, moral properties can be reduced
to natural properties. The theory also leads to a cognitivist
view of moral language, since our ethical judgements are
true or false insofar as they correctly (or incorrectly) refer
to those natural properties of the world. As with all within
nature, moral properties are measurable and verifiable
and statements involving them are factual, objective and
'truth apt'. For example, "murder is wrong" is true if the
act of murder has the natural property of wrongness (e.g.
because it causes pain, which is a natural property).
6. How is utilitarian- A common form of moral naturalism is utilitarianism. In
ism a naturalist this regard, both Bentham and Mill equate goodness with
theory? happiness with happiness being a natural feature of the
world and observable and measurable through disciplines
such as psychology. Bentham argued that all humans aim
to secure and to avoid pain - these are psychological,
, Metaethics
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and hence, natural, properties. Following from this de-
scriptive fact he draws a prescriptive conclusion, namely
that 'we ought to maximise pleasure and minimise pain'.
Mill begins his 'proof of utilitarianism with a natural fact,
namely that happiness is what each person desires. He
then concludes that happiness is the 'good' because each
person's happiness is desirable.
7. How is virtue Scholars such as Foot and Hursthouse have also sug-
ethics a natural- gested that Virtue Ethics is a naturalist theory due to its
ist theory? focus on our behaviour, psychology and interactions in
the world, all natural features. For Aristotle, 'the good;
is the thing humans most value, and we can empirically
determine this by looking at what people strive for, namely
to live the best possible life: eudaimonia. This is a natural
fact about human behaviour.
8. Explain non nat- A moral realist theory that claims that moral properties
uralism (cogni- exist independently of our minds but are non-natural,
tivist) meaning they are not physical features of the natural
world. Moral properties are basic: they cannot be reduced
to anything simpler. The theory leads to a cognitive view
of moral language, as our ethical judgments refer (truly
or falsely) to these non-natural properties. For example,
the statement "murder is wrong" expresses a cognitive
belief that murder is wrong - where "wrong" refers to a
non-natural property.
9. Explain Moore's If moral properties are basic, meaning they cannot be
intuitionism reduced to anything simpler and cannot be perceived or
measured, this raises a question of how we acquire knowl-
edge of them. G.E. Moore, through his intuitionism, argues
that, via a faculty of rational intuition, we can directly
reflect on the truth of moral judgements such as 'murder is
wrong'. The truth or falsehood of such moral judgements
is said to be self-evident because of this intuition. In other
words, inherently know or see that something is good
without the need for external or empirical evidence.
10.
