Meta-Ethics: Moral Philosopy

META-ETHICS
MORAL PHILOSOPY
What is meta-ethics?
 Meta-ethics is the study of moral thought and
moral language. Rather than addressing questions
about what practices are right and wrong, and
what our obligations to other people or future
generations are – questions of so-called
'normative' ethics – meta-ethics asks what
morality actually is.
 the subdiscipline of ethics concerned with the
nature of ethical theories and moral judgments.
4 MAJOR META-ETHICAL
THEORIES
 naturalism
 nonnaturalism (or intuitionism)
 emotivism
 prescriptivism
NATURALISM
 is the meta-ethical doctrine that there are
objective moral properties of which we have
empirical knowledge, but that these properties
are reducible to entirely non-ethical or natural
properties, such as needs, wants or pleasures (as
opposed to relating the ethical terms in some way
to the will of God, for example).
NON-NATURALISM
 is the meta-ethical view which claims that:
Ethical sentences express propositions. Some
such propositions are true. Those propositions are
made true by objective features of the world,
independent of human opinion.
EMOTIVISM
 Is the view that moral judgments do

not function as statements of fact but
rather as expressions of the speaker’s
or writer’s feelings.
PRESCRIPTIVISM
 is the meta-ethical view which claims that, rather
than expressing propositions, ethical sentences
function similarly to imperatives which are
universalizable—whoever makes a moral
judgment is committed to the same judgment in
any situation where the same relevant facts
obtain.
TWO ISSUES IN META-ETHICS
Metaphysical Issues:
Objectivism and Relativism
 Proponents of the other-worldly view typically hold
that moral values are objective in the sense that they
exist in a spirit-like realm beyond subjective human
conventions. They also hold that they are absolute,
or eternal, in that they never change, and also that
they are universal insofar as they apply to all rational
creatures around the world and throughout time.
 The second and more this-worldly approach to
the metaphysical status of morality follows in the
skeptical philosophical tradition, such as that
articulated by Greek philosopher Sextus
Empiricus, and denies the objective status of
moral values. Technically, skeptics did not reject
moral values themselves, but only denied that
values exist as spirit-like objects, or as divine
commands in the mind of God. Moral values,
they argued, are strictly human inventions, a
position that has since been called moral
relativism.
Psychological Issues in Meta-
ethics
 A second area of metaethics involves the
psychological basis of our moral judgments and
conduct, particularly understanding what
motivates us to be moral. We might explore this
subject by asking the simple question, “Why be
moral?”
Moral Psychology
 Moral psychology is the study of

moral identity development, or how
people integrate moral ideals with
the development of their own
character.
AREAS OF MORAL
PSYCHOLOGY
i. Egoism and Altruism
ii. Emotion and Reason
iii. Male and Female Morality

Egoism and Altruism
 Psychological egoism is the thesis that all of our
(intentional) actions are ultimately motivated by
what we take to be in our own self-interest. ...
 Psychological altruism is the main opposing
view, stating that some of our actions are
ultimately motivated by genuine altruism
(ultimately other-regarding motivations).
Emotion and Reason
 Reason and emotion are independent

systems for coming to a moral judgment.
Reason produces characteristically
utilitarian moral judgments, and emotion
produces characteristically deontological
judgments.
Male and Female Morality
 Basically, women's emotions tend to play the
larger role in making ethical decisins compared
to men who tend to be more aggressive and
undiscriminating. ... So overall, research does
indeed prove that gender truly does play a role in
how we make ethical decisions, whether it's
business or personal.

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What are the four major meta-ethical theories discussed in the text?

What is naturalism according to the text?

META-ETHICS

 Is the view that moral judgments do

 Moral psychology is the study of

ii. Emotion and Reason

iii. Male and Female Morality

 Reason and emotion are independent

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