Ethics Overview
Theme 1: Ethical thoughts (Meta-ethics)
Meta-ethics is a discipline in ethics that attempts to understand the nature of ethical
statements, attitudes, properties and judgements
Naturalism (Meta-ethics)
Objective moral laws exist independently of human beings, moral terms can be understood
by analysing the natural world Ethical statements are cognitive and can be verified or
falsified; verified moral statements are object truths and universal. We can learn
the meaning of ethical terms like ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by looking at empirical data
A normative use of Naturalism makes judgements about good or bad behaviour by
observing behaviour and its positive or negative effects in the world. (e.g. Utilitarianism is a
normative application of ethical Naturalism).
Bradley developed naturalism by arguing that ethical sentences express propositions. These
propositions can be seen as true or false by considering objective features of the world.
Therefore, meta-ethical statements can be seen in the same way as scientific terms.
"According to the naturalist, there is only the natural order" - Jacobs
Strengths Weakness
If verified, they are objective truths that Hume’s is-ought gap (also called Hume’s
apply to everyone. This means that law) criticises naturalism and cognitivism.
goodness is held consistently throughout Hume said philosophers talk about the way
societies, and therefore allows for a level of things are and then jump with no apparent
justice justification to a claim about the way things
ought to be. Put another way, you cannot
deduce a value from a fact. You can’t get an
ought from an is.
We all live in the empirical world, and so Moore’s naturalistic fallacy: we shouldn't
goodness is knowable to us. define 'good' by certain properties that we
like or desire.
Intuitionism (Meta-ethics)
Intuitionism argues that morality is objective and cognitive. Intuitionists argue that we just
know what goodness is. G. E. Moore simply states that the word 'good' cannot be defined.
He likened it to the colour yellow - we know what yellow is, but we can't define it. He said
quite simply:
"Good is good, and that is the end of the matter." - Moore
Moore said that we work out right and wrong by looking at the impact consequences have
upon an action. If the consequence is right (Moore argues you'll simply know if it is right),
,then it becomes good. Good comes from consequence, not reason. This presents Moore's
version of intuitionism as teleological.
Moore criticised other ethical theorists of creating a naturalistic fallacy when they try to
define good. By naturalistic fallacy, Moore means that we shouldn't define 'good' by certain
properties that we like or desire. If something makes us feel happy, Moore said that we can't
therefore define it as 'good'.
H. A. Pritchard said that working out right/wrong is our duty, which we use intuition to work
out. In this respect, the concept of duty sounds a little more deontological than Moore's
teleological perspective. Pritchard states that when people disagree about morality,
someone's moral thinking simply hasn't been fully developed.
"If nothing is self-evident, nothing can be proved" - C.S Lewis
Strengths Weakness
Intuitionism explains why different It can be argued that we do not all
societies/cultures share common moral recognise goodness intuitively in the same
values such as 'murder is wrong'. way e.g. some people would say war can
Therefore, Humanity must have a common be ethically 'good' whilst others can argue
intuition of what is right and wrong. that all war is inherently 'bad'.
Intuitionism appeals to our experiences of There is no intrinsic reason why human
good and bad, therefore it is the best way to intuition should be the basis of moral
understand moral language. For example, judgement. For example, people have
we may recognise the wrongness of an act intuitions about the weather, but that doesn't
however it may be difficult to specify why it mean the weather forecast should be based
is wrong. on them.
Not reliant on God. No idea of origin. Is it just a gut feeling? Or
God's direction? Genetic inheritance? If we
don't know where it originates, how reliable
is it?
Best way to understand moral language Intuitionism is a meaningless concept due
because it avoids the 'naturalistic fallacy' i.e. to being non-verifiable i.e. Intuitionism is
good and bad cannot be used as factual defined as an innate ability that is not
statements because you cannot define provable by empirical evidence.
words like good and bad. Any attempt to
find a definition will limit or reduce the idea
of goodness and badness.
Allows for objective moral values and Nietzsche criticised Moore's 'yellow'
supports the ideas of moral realism. It does analogy, and argued that one person may
not dismiss the possibility of moral facts, see good as one thing whereas one may
therefore allows for moral duties and see good as another, suggesting the issue
obligations and thus satisfies moral of "ethical colourblindness"
absolutists.
, Emotivism (Meta-ethics)
Emotivism is a non-cognitive meta-ethical theory which states quite simply that ethical
language is only used in expressions of feeling. When we say 'murder is wrong', we're not
saying that it is immoral, we're saying that we don't like the idea.
When we use ethical language, Ayer argues that we are not judging morality or making
normative truth claims - we are simply expressing emotion. Therefore ethical statements are
neither verifiable nor analytics.
"In saying that a certain type of action is right or wrong, I am not making any factual
statement" - Ayer
Stevenson is credited with developing Ayer's argument further, and argues that ethical
language is reciprocal; when we say to somebody that murder is wrong, for example, we are
expecting them to agree.
Strengths Weakness
emotivism's subjective nature allows all Mel Thompson famously said "You cannot
opinions to be equally valid - it is egalitarian reduce morality to a set of cheers and
boos."
culturally aware - arranged marriage, for emotivism belittles our ability to reason
example, could be good or bad depending
on the stance of different cultures
it effectively resolves the argument as to
why moral disputes can never be resolved
"The emotivist is unable to distinguish between my dislike of curries and my dislike of
genocide" - Mackie
Theme 2: Deontological ethics
Deontological = an action is considered morally good because of some characteristic of the
action itself, not because the product of the action is good.
John Finnis' development of natural law
Developed from Aquinas' natural law theory
The Seven Fundamental Goods
Finnis' expanded upon Aquinas' natural law theory by creating seven fundamental ‘goods’
for humankind. These goods are common to all humans regardless of their culture. Finnis
argues there is evidence of this in anthropology. Finnis develops Natural Law with an
emphasis on practical reasonableness (using intelligence to work out the best action)
instead of church authority.
"Finnis attempts to form a rational basis for moral action" - White
