intuitionism

intuitionism: ethical theories that hold that moral knowledge is received in a diff way from science n logic

cognitive theories of meta-ethics

h.a. prichard

• claimed that the word ‘ought’ cannot be defined in a moral sense

• moral obligations, however, are obvious

• 2 types of thinking:

  • reason: looks at the facts of a situation

    • eg: whether or not to carry out euthanasia » collects all the data on the nature of euthanasia » ppl concerned, various possible outcomes

  • intuition: decides what to do

    • eg: determines what we should do

• recognises the problem that people’s morals are different

• this is because some people’s moral thinking has developed further than others

  • he believed that disagreement is caused by people having different levels of practical knowledge about the world n levels of personal moral development

• does not list any fundamental obligations/moral virtues

• conflict resolution: we must look at the situation n decide which obligation is greater

w.d. ross

• …fleshed out the bare bones of intuitionism found in Pritchard

• agreed that ‘right’ and ‘obligatory’ are as indefinable as ‘good’

• he was a deontologist

  • certain types of actions, “prima facie duties” » “at first face”/”at first appearance” were right

  • in any particular situation, we come to recognise certain prima facie duties

the 7 prima facie duties

1. duties of fidelity

   • eg promise-keeping

2. duties of reparation

   • paying back when we have done wrong

3. duties of gratitude

4. duties of justice

5. duties of beneficence

   • helping others

6. duties of self-improvement

7. duties of non-maleficence

   • not harming others

• ross says when these duties conflict, we must follow the one we think is right in the situation

• sometimes 1 prima facie duty will have to give way to another » duties at first sight

• however, Ross fails to say how to decide in cases of conflict » depends on person’s moral maturity

moore: cognitivist realism/non-naturalist Intuitionism

• Moore vs. Hume: Unlike Hume, Moore rejected naturalism but upheld objective morality, proposing goodness exists beyond natural properties.

Open Question Argument (OQA):

• Core Argument: If naturalism (e.g., goodness = pleasure) were true:

  • Logical conflict: Goodness = pleasure is informative, but pleasure = pleasure is tautological (uninformative).

  • Informative ≠ tautological → naturalism is false.

• Open vs. Closed Questions:

  • Closed questions reflect ignorance of meanings; open questions do not.

  • Asking, “Is goodness really X natural property?” is always open, proving goodness ≠ any natural property.

Naturalistic Fallacy:

• It’s a fallacy to assume that what is natural (e.g., pleasure) is inherently good.

• Critiques extend to non-naturalism (e.g., divine command theory): "What makes God's commands good?" remains unanswered.

• All definitions of goodness rest on assumptions, committing the naturalistic fallacy.

Goodness as Sui Generis - unique:

• Goodness is indefinable, known intuitively, like perceiving the colour yellow.

• It’s unique and cannot be equated to anything else.

Non-Naturalism:

• Goodness is a real, non-natural property, akin to abstract entities like numbers.

• Naturalism’s failure supports moral realism.

Intuitionism:

• Moral knowledge arises intuitively, not through reasoning.

• Strengths: Aligns with psychology; moral intuitions guide recognition of right/wrong.

• Cognitivist stance: Ethical language expresses objective moral beliefs.

• Supports cross-cultural moral agreement on core principles (e.g., against theft/murder).

Challenges to Intuitionism:

• Mackie’s Argument from Relativity:

  • Explains moral disagreement via social conditioning, not intuition of non-natural properties.

  • Moral disagreement better aligns with cultural influences than with universal, objective moral truths.

• Relativism and social conditioning present stronger explanations for moral disagreement than Intuitionism.

richard price

• simple ideas cannot be invented - they just ‘are’

• the action of ‘seeing’ and the immediate ‘intuitive’ response is the knowledge of what is good or what is bad

for n against