Meta-ethics key terms

What is moral realism?

The view that moral properties exist objectively and mind-independently.

What is naturalism in ethics?

The view that moral properties are natural properties that exist in the physical world.

How is naturalism a form of moral realism?

Because it claims moral facts exist independently of human opinions.

What is utilitarian naturalism?

The view that goodness is identical to pleasure, a natural property (e.g. Bentham).

Why is utilitarian naturalism cognitivist?

Because moral statements express beliefs that can be true or false.

What is cognitivism?

The view that moral statements express genuine beliefs capable of truth or falsity.

What is Hume’s is/ought gap?

The claim that prescriptive moral conclusions cannot be logically derived from descriptive facts.

How does Hume explain moral judgement?

As arising from feelings rather than rational inference from facts.

What is the open-question argument (Moore)?

The argument that defining good in natural terms always leaves it an open question whether that property really is good.

What is the naturalistic fallacy?

The mistake of defining moral goodness in terms of natural properties.

What is intuitionist non-naturalism?

The view that goodness is a non-natural property known through intuition.

Why is intuitionism cognitivist?

Because it claims we know moral truths that can be true or false.

What is emotivism?

The view that moral language expresses emotions rather than beliefs.

What does Ayer suggest the statement “stealing is wrong” actually is?

An expression of disapproval, like saying “boo to stealing”.

What is moral nihilism?

The view that morality has no objective truth or binding force.

What is Anscombe’s view of “ought”?

That it should function like “need”, grounded in facts about flourishing.

What is Mackie’s error theory?

The view that moral language expresses beliefs, but all such beliefs are false.

What is anti-realism?

The view that there are no objective moral properties.