Ethics - Meta-ethics

What is Meta-Ethics?

- The study of underlying ethical ideas or ethical language

- Abstract - the purpose of ethics, not a matter of applying to real life

What is ethical naturalism?

- The view that morals can be defined or explained in natural terms, supported through the observation of the world in science

- Morals could be based on the same kind of observation of the world as used in science

- We use our sense perceptions to conclude ethical truths as moral persons, as opposed to ethical evidence

What are the two branches of ethical naturalism?

- Theological naturalists, such as Aquinas: look at evidence of god's purposes and will in the natural world

- Hedonic naturalists, such as utilitarians: looks at evidence for pleasure and pain in the natural world

Which philosopher is most associated with ethical naturalism?

- F.H Bradley

What are Bradley's ideas of ethical naturalism?

- A moral perspective was determined from self-realisation and from observing one's position in society, this is what we should pursue as it places us in the concrete universe

- Rejected hedonism - pleasure does not provide self-understanding

- Criticised Kant's deontology - does not guide us in morality or give human satisfaction

- To be a good person we must know our station and its duties

What are GE Moore's contributions to ethical naturalism?

- Critical of it: The naturalistic fallacy

- Differentiates between simple and complex ideas

- Goodness is simple, cannot be broken down or defined in natural terms

- Intuitionist - we recognise good things intuitively

- Believed that moral judgements cannot be proved - we can be wrong about moral claims but we cannot explain why and communicate it.

What is the naturalistic fallacy?

- GE Moore: Goodness and any ethical statements cannot be defined in natural terms, you would make a mistake in doing so

- To use a non-moral premise to establish a moral conclusion, or define a moral judgement as a factual one is an error

What is the biggest problem with Moore's views?

- He cannot effectively demonstrate them

- Does not account for moral disagreements

- Asserts that either you agree with his list of intrinsic and indefinable goods or you havent' thought about it enough

What are John Searle's contributions to ethical naturalism?

- Criticises Moore

- Is-ought gap

What is the is-ought gap?

- Confusing what is (desired) with what ought to be (desired)

- We cannot derive a statement about how the world should be, from how the world is.

Which philosophers are most associated with Intuitionism?

- GE Moore

- HA Prichard

- WD Ross

What were HA Prichard's contributions to intuitionism?

- Moral obligation presented itself directly to our intuitions: apprehension is immediate

- Two different kinds of thinking: intuition (determining which course to follow) and reasoning (collecting all the facts)

- Ethical dilemmas are about making a choice between different actions where there are conflicting moral obligations - intuition identifies which obligation is greater

What is the main weakness of Prichard's theory of intuitionism?

- It does not adequately explain how we discriminate between the conclusions when our intuitions differ - how we decide which option is more enlightened isn't clear.

What were WD Ross's contributions to intuitionism?

- Accepted Moore's argument that goodness cannot be defined in natural terms and argued that moral principles cannot be absolute.

- Prima Facie (at first appearance) duties

- Rejected utilitarianism

- Impossible to define things that were right or obligatory

- Differentiated between right and good: you can do the right thing without it being good if you do not have "good" motivation or intention

What are prima facie duties (WD Ross)?

- in a moral dilemma, the various obligations we have are apparent

- prima facie duties are those that we are bound to following unless there's an overriding obligation: promise keeping, reparation for harm done, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, non-maleficence

- emphasises personal character of duty rather than absolutes

- duties are not in order or prescriptive: choosing what to do is a matter of judgement which is improved through experience

What are the strengths of Ross's theory of intuitionism against other ethical theories?

- More fully developed than other forms of intuitionism

- Provides a way forward when a moral dilemma forces the abandonment of one absolute principle or another - being able to set aside the principle of truthfulness for the preservation of life (overcoming the Nazi dilemma)

- Allows for the personal nature of duty and obligation we feel for people we hold in sentimental value to override the greater good unlike utilitarianism

What are the weaknesses of Ross's theory of intuitionism?

- Takes no account for rights even in life or death situations

- The consideration of different duties when considering extreme cases may be unpalatable

- Did not justify his general comment that his foundational duties were correct but incomplete

- How do we know what is and is not a prima facie duty? That we should agree with Ross?

What is the general evaluation of naturalism?

- Simplistic account of moral knowledge

- Morals being a feature of the concrete universe (Bradley) does not hold much weight outside of religious groups, especially with scientific breakthroughs in quantum physics etc.

- Anchoring ethics to science leaves it vulnerable to such breakthroughs

What are the strengths of intuitionism in general?

- Clear account of 'good' in ethics - simple and known directly

- Not prescriptive, gives space for intuitive judgements to be wrong

- Naturalistic fallacy seems persuasive: we can always criticise those who associate good with something else

- Pritchard and Ross' view that duties are self-evident gives a positive outlook on human nature

What is the general evaluation of intuitionism?

- Intuitionists do not agree on the moral principles they claim are self-evident

- Moore was teleological - good is what maximises human happiness for most

- Ross rejected the teleological approach and emphasised duty

- Moral sense that we supposedly have is not fully explained

- Highly individualistic - no concrete justifications, only claims that good is indefinable

- No verifiable way of settling moral disputes, no clear decision making process

What is logical positivism and who is associated with it?

- AJ Ayer

- The only meaningful claims are those which can be proven by observation or deductive reasoning

What is emotivism?

- Ethical non-naturalism

- The view that morals can be understood purely as a matter of emotional responses and attitudes

- Can be traced back to logical positivists

- Started with David Hume arguing that ethics amounts only to sentiments

- Was later taken up by Ayer: boo-hooray theory of ethics

What did Ayer argue about ethical language?

- Verification Principle: language is only meaningful if it can be shown to be true either analytically or synthetically (logical positivism)

- Does not apply to religious beliefs or moral ideas

- Ethical language really expresses our feeling about something or somebody we do/do not like

What was C.L Stevenson's contribution to emotivism?

- Prescriptivism

- Similar ideas to Ayer, but claimed that there are such things as real disagreements in attitudes and convictions about what is life, what is value, rather than just differing emotions

- Gives more meaning to moral disagreement, which Ayer only sees as conflicts of feelings

What are the strengths of emotivism?

- Ayer: Lacks the problem of speculative and metaphysical ideas - based on the observation of behaviour, rather than God or timeless forms

- Easy to think of ideas that link with emotivism - people making moral claims with great emotional conviction and less 'proof'

- Stevenson: can explain the complex meaning of ethical terms and gives some hope for resolving ethical disputes because he emphasises underlying beliefs and definitions

What are the weaknesses of emotivism?

- Rachels: emotivism removes reason from moral judgements, in our morality we appeal to reason, as in any other aspect of life

- In the case of horrific crime, it seems inadequate to say that condemnation of these is just emotional - surely something like genocide is intrinsically wrong

- Vardy: emotivism is an ethical non-theory because it only discusses emotion and does not really deal with the idea of actions being ethical at all

Summarise Emotivism:

- AJ Ayer

- The idea that all ethical statements are only expressions of emotions - a matter of emotional response and grounded in nothing else.

- Anti-realist - because if all ethical statements are only emotions, then there are no ethical facts.

Summarise Prescriptivism:

- Hare

- The idea that ethical statements do not express facts, but they express attitudes - saying that something is wrong is just an expression of one's personal disapproval of the action being done by themselves, or anyone else in similar circumstances

- Anti-realist - ethical statements are only expression of attitude, approval/disapproval, not fact

Summarise Utilitarianism in meta-ethical terms:

- Doing the right thing means doing the thing that brings the most happiness for the most amount of people.

- Realist - good = happiness and this is a moral fact - doing the right thing is always bringing the most amount of happiness

- Naturalist - ethical properties (goodness, rightness) is observable in the natural world in the natural property of happiness

Summarise Natural Law in meta-ethical terms:

- We have a purpose to be moral and follow moral rules, either set by God or else

- Realist - there are moral rules

- Naturalist - our purpose is observable in the natural world

Summarise FH Bradley's views in meta-ethical terms:

- Being moral means being aware of our position in society

- Realist - there are ethical facts which we learn from self-realisation

- Naturalist - our position in society is observable in the natural, physical world

Summarise Situation Ethics in meta-ethical terms:

- To be moral is to do the most loving thing

- Realist - although rules are flexible and morality should be considered on a case-by-case basis, there is one moral rule, which is being loving

- Naturalist - love can be observed in the natural world

Summarise Virtue Ethics in meta-ethical terms:

- If you are virtuous, you will naturally do good things

- Realist - There are specific virtues that people should aspire to harness.

- Naturalist - Human character can be observed

Summarise Plato's views in meta-ethical terms:

- The Form of Good objectively underpins all morals.

- Realist - There are objective moral truths grounded in the realm of Forms

- Non-naturalist - The forms are not a part of the natural world, and thus cannot be observed

Summarise Intuitionism in meta-ethical terms:

- Moore

- We have an intuitive sense of knowing how to make the right moral judgements

- Realist - There are objective moral truths that we intuitively know

- Non-naturalist - we have no way to prove the rightness of moral judgements

Summarise Hume's views in meta-ethical terms:

- There is no morality outside of cause and effect, we only learn how to act morally by observing the effects of our actions, how people's responses to them make us feel

- Anti-realist - No objective truths, a matter of responses