Lect 3: Moral Realism Realism

Introduction to Metaphysics and Ethics

  • Discussion of the metaphysical foundations of ethical judgments, questioning the nature of ethics and its meaning.

Overview of Ethics

  • Inquiry into whether discussions of ethics truly reflect reality or are merely noise.

  • Establishes that the upcoming session is the most philosophical part of the course.

  • Importance of metaethics to understand ethical significances in relation to other topics.

Understanding Metaethics

  • Metaethics: Focus not on what is right or wrong, but on the nature of moral judgments.

    • **Key Questions: **

    • What exactly do we do when we make moral judgments?

    • How do we use or misuse language in moral statements?

    • What is morality, and what are ethical systems?

  • Example statement: "Murder is wrong."

    • Definition of murder according to common law: "The intentional unlawful killing of a human being with malice of forethought."

    • Inquiry into the implications of the sense that "murder is wrong."

    • Does this statement reflect something real in nature or is it merely expression of opinion?

    • Links to Socrates asserting that moral standards are universal and unchanging.

    • Contrast with a more subjective perspective like the Dude's from The Big Lebowski: "That's just like, your opinion, man."

Fundamental Ethical Questions Addressed

  1. Do ethical statements refer to objective features of the world that are real?

    • Inquiry whether moral statements reflect an objective reality or if they are subjective opinions.

  2. Can ethical statements even be true or false?

    • Some statements may not have truth conditions at all.

Realism vs. Anti-Realism in Ethics

  • Moral Realism: Morality represents facts about the world; moral facts are objectively true and independent of human opinions.

    • Moral judgments can be true or false.

  • Moral Anti-Realism: Morality is not independent of human judgment; moral values are products of human minds and cannot be objectively evaluated.

    • May culminate in either subjective or intersubjective truths.

Variants of Moral Realism

  1. Naturalistic Realism: Moral truths connect to observable facts in nature.

    • Example: Utilitarianism – the greatest good is defined in terms of pleasure and reduction of suffering.

  2. Non-Naturalistic Realism: Moral truths are based on factors not reducible to natural properties, such as collective rationality (Kantian ethics).

    • Example: Intuitionism - Knowledge of moral truths through intuitive understanding.

Variants of Moral Anti-Realism

  1. Subjectivism: Right and wrong are determined by personal beliefs and opinions.

  2. Cultural Relativism: Morality is defined by cultural norms without objective standards.

  3. Divine Command Theory: Moral values are dictated by God's commands but still viewed as anti-realist because they don't derive from nature.

  4. Error Theory: Moral claims are false; there are no moral facts to support them.

  5. Nihilism: Assertion that morality is meaningless and does not offer any actionable truth.

Analysis of Ethical Statement Truth Conditions

  • Cognitivism: Moral statements refer to beliefs that can be true or false, hence are meaningful.

  • Noncognitivism: Moral statements do not express facts; they cannot be true; they simply express attitudes or emotions.

  • Evaluating a proposition: A proposition must refer to a state of affairs to be meaningful.

    • Example: "Snow is white" can be verified against reality.

    • Contrast with: "Murder is wrong," which lacks objective truth conditions.

Types of Noncognitivism

  1. Emotivism: Ethical statements express emotional reactions (e.g., "Murder is bad" expresses disapproval).

    • Often referred to as the “boo hoorah” theory.

  2. Expressivism: Similar to emotivism but focuses on evaluative attitudes towards actions.

  3. Projectivism: Moral judgments project subjective values onto the world.

  4. Moral Fictionalism: Ethical statements serve a useful purpose but aren't literally true.

  5. Quasi-Realism: Ethically language behaves as descriptive even though it does not meet factual standard conditions.

Recap of Core Concepts

  • Key Questions Revisited:

    • Are there objective moral facts?

    • Can moral statements be true or false?

  • Cognitivism vs Noncognitivism:

    • Cognitivism: ethical statements have meaning and can be true.

    • Noncognitivism: ethical statements are meaningless or merely expressive.

Conclusion

  • Emphasis on understanding personal leanings toward realism or anti-realism based on discussions of moral statements and their truth value.

  • The course will shift to more practical discussions of ethics in later sessions, moving back to essential ethical theories and applications.