Key vocab

Normative ethics

Theories of ethics that give guidance on how we should behave

Fact

An actual state of the world, objectively true

Value

Something good, or something one believes to be good- it’s subjective

Naturalism

The view that we can identify goodness/value with some natural property or aspect of a particular situation

Intuitionism

The belief that the ‘good’ is real but not a natural fact grasped by the intuition of the mind

Emotivism

The theory promoted by logical positivists that ethical sentences simply indicate emotions

Naturalistic Fallacy

G. E. Moore's term for the alleged error of assuming that the ‘good’ is some natural quality

Absolutism

The view that some things are obligatory- Kant, Utilitarianism and Situation Ethics are absolutist as they assume an underlying principle e.g duty, happiness or agape

A priori

Knowledge that isn’t dependent on sense experience- knowledge prior to evidence

Relativism

The theory that there are no absolutes in ethics and every judgement is relative to culture or beliefs

Moral realism

Mind independent, objective moral properties & facts e.g murder is wrong, as the act has the mind independent moral property of wrongness

Moral anti-realism

Mind independent properties and facts don’t exist

Cognitivism

Focus on language. Moral statements are truth apt & express propositions which are true/false. They are subject to cognition

Non cogitivism

Moral statements are meaningless. They are not subject to cognition, and are merely expression of opinions

Ethical naturalism

Cognitive view. Statements are truth apt. The discovery of if a statement is true or false is done through natural properties- something empirical & natural e.g pleasure & pain can be used to verify

Ethical non-naturalism

No natural term could ever define a moral term. Pleasure and pain are not universal indicators of good/bad so cannot be used. Instead we verify through non-natural ways- metaphysical or spiritual, such as moral intuition

Ethical subjectivism

Morality is subjective & there are no universal moral truths, instead they are down to individual opinion and feeling. Moral statements are propositions and are truth apt, verified by the person saying them due to belief or the views of a whole culture

Error theory

All moral language is truth apt but all moral statements are false