Key Terms - Meta-Ethics

Meta-Ethics

the study of moral language

Absolutism

moral truths are fixed rules which do not change

Relativism

moral truths are not fixed and change depending on the situation, individual, etc

Cognitive

Morality is factual, we can know objectively what is right and wrong: moral claims can be true or false (meaningful)

Non-Cognitive

morality is opinion; it is subjective and individualism; moral claims cannot be true or false (meaningless)

Naturalism

ethical theories that hold that morals are part of the natural world can be recognised or observed in some way

Intuitionism

ethical theories that hold that moral knowledge is received in a different way from science and logic

Vienna Circle

a group of philosophers known as logical positivists who reject claims that moral truth can be verified as objectively true

Emotivism

ethical theories that hold that moral statements are not state of fact but either beliefs or emotions

Hume’s Law

you cannot go from an ‘is’ (a statement of fact) to an ‘ought’ (a moral)

Naturalistic Fallacy

G.E. Moore’s argument that is is a mistake to define moral terms with reference to other properties (a mistake to break Hume’s law)