Emotivism

Basic claims of emotivism?

1. No objective morality and moral statements are non-cognitive

2. Moral statements are expressions of emotions

3. No way to verify moral statements

Often referred to as the _________ theory? What does this express?

Boo!-Hurrah!

Moral statements are emotive

What did emotivism grow out of? What does it say?

Logical Positivism

Ethical statements are not factual - not objectively true

Example of moral statements being emotive

“abortion is wrong” = boo to abortion - an expression of an opinion rather than a factual claim

no different to “Taylor Swift sucks” - i say this because I dislike her music

What did Ayer say statements need to be to be meaningful? What is this called?

Verifiable

the verification principle

What is a statement if it's unverifiable according to Ayer?

Meaningless

What are the different kinds of verifiable statements according to Ayer?

Analytic statement

Synthetic statement

Define an analytic statement. Can an ethical statement be analytic? why?

True by definition - doesn't require empirical proving - e.g. the bachelor is an unmarried man

No

They're not true by definition

Define an synthetic statement. Can an ethical statement be synthetic? why?

Can be proven true or false empirically - e.g. “it is raining” can be proven by going outside to check

No

What empirical evidence can be used to prove that “x” is wrong?

If ethical statements are neither analytic or synthetic what are they?

MEANINGLESS