...Camille Karnatz Philosophy 290, Environmental Ethics Professor Mark Bernstein February 8, 2013 “Identities that are not grounded in meaning can be contested.”- Dale Jamieson, Ethics and the Environment, Page 54 When we say something is right or wrong, good or evil, of value or worthless, we are characterizing the subject based upon a previous notion. We can’t explain where these preconceived ideas come from, nor why we use one level of definition over another, as in something may be ‘good’ but not ‘great.’ Regardless, these descriptions are accepted in society without question. I would like to pose the argument that these identities can be contested and further that no identity is grounded in meaning. I strongly believe that through the use of moral language and expressivism, one can alter any definition and not one identity is stable. Before I begin to defend my thesis, I would like to review the background theories I will use in my case. This particular thesis reflects the category of meta-ethics. Meta-ethics is one of three branches of ethics, the others being Normative ethics and Applied Ethics, which focuses on the definitions and understanding of ethical statements, or more accurately, moral language. It does not discuss whether certain subject or acts are good or bad, but rather this branch of ethics questions the nature of good and bad, what is it to be good or bad. Meta-ethical questions ask whether the language used is asserting a claim or expresses a certain...
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...ETHICS AND SOCIETY An Introduction with Professional Review The need for a system of ethics What is Ethics???? Nature of Ethics??? Does it put value???? If YES..then what kind of value??? If No…then why???? Is it relevant to our society??? Branches of Ethics 1. Meta-ethics: It provides the broad foundation for ethical decision making, but it doesn’t provide guidance (Theory) 2. Normative Ethics: It develops general theories, rules, principles for moral conduct and designed to bring moral order out of chaos. (Practical) 3. Applied Ethics: It designed to guide us through moral thicket by confronting issues within a real-world environment. There is no right or wrong answer but there should always be “well reasoned” ones. (Reconciliation between theory & practice) Why Be Ethical? People have lots of reasons for being ethical: * There is inner benefit. Virtue is its own reward. * There is personal advantage. It is prudent to be ethical. It’s good business. * There is approval. Being ethical leads to self-esteem, the admiration of loved ones and the respect of peers. * There is religion. Good behavior can please or help serve a deity. * There is habit. Ethical actions can fit in with upbringing or training. Ethics in Profession Ethics involves learning what is right and wrong, and then doing the right thing. Most ethical decisions have extended consequences. Most ethical decisions have multiple alternatives. Most ethical decisions have mixed outcomes...
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...“All Ethical Language is prescriptive” Discuss (35) The Philosopher R.M. Hare came up with the idea of prescriptivism and what he meant by this basically was that other people should agree with a statement and follow it due to ethical statements having an intrinsic sense. The role of ethical statements is to say what ‘ought’ to be done and such prescriptions are moral because they are universal. Hare then goes on to talk about the word ‘good’ and that we should always link it in relation to a set of standards, and this therefore means it has a descriptive meaning, however if we use the word ‘good’ in a moral sense it also has a prescriptive meaning. Hare is saying that there is a difference between a descriptive and prescriptive meaning, but when we use words with an ethical meaning, we use them prescriptively. However there are criticisms to Hare’s theory like you should put yourself in another person’s shoes before making a judgement as one person’s preferences may be different from another person. On the other hand philosopher G.E. Moore came up with the idea of intuitionism and he said that the word ‘good’ was indefinable and one prime example he used was that we know what ‘yellow’ is and can recognise it, but we can’t actually define what it is and he also says this about the word ‘good’. Moore also said that we can still say whether a moral statement is true or false through our intuition and that we can recognise good when we see it. There are also criticisms to this...
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...Is ethical language meaningless? Discuss. Ethical language is meaningless. The analysis of ethical language is called meta-ethics. Meta-ethics looks at the meaning of the language used in ethics and includes questions such as: are ethical claims capable of being true or false, or are they expressions of emotion? If true, is that truth only relative to some individual, society or culture. Meta-ethics is broken down into cognitive and non-cognitive theories. This shows that there are two contrasting opinions to whether ethical language is meaningless. Cognitive theories of meta-ethics. Ethical naturalism is a cognitive theory of meta-ethics. Ethical naturalism or ethical cognitivism is the theory that moral values can be derived from sense experience. Ethical naturalism looks into cognitive and objective statements, it states ethical and non-ethical statements are the same, also that ethical statements can be verified and falsified. Criticisms of ethical naturalism – the naturalistic fallacy. The naturalistic fallacy is the claim that good cannot be defined. G.E. Moore argued against ethical naturalism and called the attempt to identify goodness with a natural quality a mistake. He uses the naturalistic fallacy to do this. Intuitionism – G.E. Moore. Intuitionism is the theory that moral truths are known by intuition. Moore’s intuitionism is a cognitive theory itself. It states good is indefinable, there are objective moral truths and we know these moral truths by intuitionism...
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...Prescriptivism in relation to ethical language is ethical statements that are about what we think ought to be done. Meaning that when people say something they want to prescribe their views on others. Invented by hare he argued for universalizability, if you refer one thing rather than another then you think this would be good for everyone. In prescriptivism there are four basic ideas. 1. Morality must be about doing not just thinking if you believe. 2. Something is right you must act on it and actually do it. Has to be consistent 3. Moral beliefs must be kept in harmony with other in other words cant cause war. 4. Cannot be a hypocrite He states that ethical statements are universalizable but this does not mean that they are objective. However there is also another non-cognitivst concept of ethical language. Emotivism came out of the logical positivist position of the Vienna circle. They believe that absolute truths were based on the empirical scientific knowledge. After developing the verification principle they concluded that neither religious nor ethical language can be verified. Ayer’s solution to the problem of ethical language is known as Emotivism. Or the boo hurrah theory. It argues that out moral are determined by our feelings and opinions of others. When we say that something is good it is like an emotional response that says hurrah to it and if we say something is bad it is like we are booing it. E.g to commandments says stealing is wrong, cannot prove this through...
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...Value and Theories Purpose: Provide a personal look at ethics and morality Personal Credo: “To thine own self be true.” 1. Who are you? Abilities, Talents, characteristics that define you 2. Make a list * Things I would never do to be successful. * Things I would never do to make money. What are ethics? Generally accepted rules of conduct that govern society 1. Higher standard than law 2. “You know it when you see it” * Unfair * Dishonest * Unjust 3. Purpose of ethical theories: Move beyond Divine Command Theory 1. Decisions are made based on guidance from a divine being * E.g., Ten Commandments, U.S. Constitution Joe’s Dilemma, Revisited Using Divine Command Theory, make the argument that: 1. Joe should keep the money Thou shall not steal 2. Joe should give the money to his father Honor thy father and thy mother Divine Command Theory Pros? : Can be simple Wide buy-in in homogenous groups Realistic? Unethical behavior can be constrained Cons? : Creates conflict in heterogeneous groups Conflicting Ethical Egoism Theory Everything is determined by self-interest * We should limit our judgment to our own ethical egos and not interfere with judgment of others * Laws are needed to maintain order. Adherents Ayn Rand, Thomas Hobbes * There is a positive harmony of interests among free, rational humans, such that no moral agent can rationally coerce another person consistently with his...
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...ethics Branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles. Ethics is traditionally subdivided into normative ethics, metaethics, and applied ethics. Normative ethics seeks to establish norms or standards of conduct; a crucial question in this field is whether actions are to be judged right or wrong based on their consequences or based on their conformity to some moral rule, such as “Do not tell a lie.” Theories that adopt the former basis of judgment are called consequentialist (see consequentialism); those that adopt the latter are known as deontological (see deontological ethics). Metaethics is concerned with the nature of ethical judgments and theories. Since the beginning of the 20th century, much work in metaethics has focused on the logical and semantic aspects of moral language. Some major metaethical theories are naturalism (see naturalistic fallacy), intuitionism, emotivism, and prescriptivism. Applied ethics, as the name implies, consists of the application of normative ethical theories to practical moral problems (e.g., abortion). Among the major fields of applied ethics are bioethics, business ethics, legal ethics, and medical ethics. 1. Clearly define the ethical problem. The ethical problem is if I should be honest and report this security breech. 2. Employ applicable laws and regulations. I would...
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...The branch of ethics that discusses the meaning and indeed the validity of the word good is called Meta-ethics, meaning ‘beyond' ethics lies ethical language. From here there are two separate branches, cognitive; where "goodness" can be known as an analytic or synthetic property of the world and non-cognitive; where "goodness" cannot be known as a property of the world. Within the non-cognitivists are another group called emotivists, they uphold the view that the word good is merely an expression of feeling. Some would agree with the emotivists’ view that moral statements are merely an expression of feeling, but may also hold the view that as the ‘good is so exceedingly ambiguous' that any of the meta-ethical theories have validity to them. Emotivism says that moral statements merely express positive or negative feelings; it is mainly based on better to say "it's an empirical tradition which stems from..." The work of the Scottish philosopher and empiricist Hume and the idea of Hume's fork. "When you pronounce any action or character to be vicious, you mean... you have a feeling or sentiment of blame." This idea was taken forward by A.J. Ayer who also believed that moral statements were primarily expressions of emotion, hence Emotivism; his theory has been called Hurrah-Boo theory. An example of this is to imagine you and a friend are at a football game supporting different teams. When one team scores you cheer and your friend boos. According to this view, saying ‘euthanasia...
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...Introduction In this essay I will briefly outline the meaning of non-cognitivism, and then further explain one branch of non-cognitivism expressivism. This particular view of non-cognitivism is mostly targeted by the wishful thinking argument. I will then outline the main problem brought up by the wishful thinking argument. I will then outline the expressionist’s responses to the wishful thinking argument using David Enoch and James Lenman’s solutions to the problem, and show the flaws in their arguments. Therefore I will come to the conclusion that the wishful thinking argument is a valid objection to non-cognitivism. Non-Cognitivism Non cognitivism is the objection to the claim the moral facts express belief. According to this view they are not either true or false, neither do the assert anything about the world. Seeing as moral facts cannot be seen as true and no one can have knowledge of something that is not true, non-cognitivism implies the moral knowledge is impossible. The three main forms of non-cognitivism are; prescriptivism, emotivism and expressivism. In this essay I will be addressing the problems found in the expressivism branch of non-cognitivism. Expressivism Expressivism is the view that sentences about moral facts are not to descriptive terms, and do not relate to the real world problems. They are used for expressing either positive or negative attitude towards the object of the sentence. The Wishful-thinking argument This is an argument that rejects...
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...EMOTIVISM LOGICAL POSITIVISM Logical positivism embraced a scientific method for verifying knowledge – a process of verification – which excluded the possibility of moral facts. This shows the influence of David Hume (1711-1776), who believed that sentiment was the source of right and wrong. If you decide to help someone in need, you do so because you have feelings, not because you have reason. Hume believed in a common feeling for each other’s welfare. We all have a capacity for compassion, but it has nothing to do with reason. You can’t go from a factual statement (an ‘is’) to a moral one (an ‘ought). Logical positivism acknowledged that moral facts were not like scientific ones, but went on to conclude that they were not facts at all. If I make a statement, it is either true or false depending whether someone in principle could go and check the facts to which I refer. If there is no possible evidence that can be given either for or against that statement being true, then it is meaningless. This approach was summed up as: “The meaning of a statement is its method of verification”. I.e. to say ‘X exists’ means ‘if you go and look, you will see X’. This view of language is found in the early work of Wittgenstein. His Tractatus (1921) was an immensely influential book, which inspired a group of philosophers known as the Vienna Circle, and it was there that logical positivism developed. Its influence was spread by the publication in 1936 of Language, Truth and Logic by A. J...
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...Ethical language has no meaning. Discuss (35 Marks) The meaning and function of ethical language is the focus of meta-ethics. It can be discussed whether ethical language has any meaning at all by looking at different perspectives. An ethical naturalist would say that all ethical statements are the same as non-ethical ones; they’re factual and can, therefore, be true or false. So ‘Thomas More was executed for his beliefs in 1535’ and ‘Thomas More was a good man’ can be proved true or false by looking at the evidence. If we can find evidence, we can conclude that Thomas More was good and if not, we can conclude he was not. The same holds for any moral issue for example if one wants to know if euthanasia is right or wrong. They simply look at the evidence so they can test the accuracy of the statement, and from this they could argue that euthanasia ends suffering for an individual, therefore euthanasia is right. Ethical naturalist is an objective and cognitive theory, which means that they claim that there are moral facts and that they can be known, perhaps through reason, or through revelation and that they are true for everyone, for all time. Therefore ethical naturalists see ethical language as meaningful because they argue that ethical language has an underlined content of purpose. For example a knife is good if it cuts sharply. Therefore ethical language is showing what terms such as ‘good’ mean through the content of purpose within an ethical statement and is therefore...
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...To what extent is ethical language meaningful (35 Marks) The analysis of ethical language is called meta-ethics and what Meta-ethics does is look at the meaning of the language that is used in ethical statements and it includes questions about whether those statements are true or false or whether those statements are just expressions of emotion and if it is the truth then is it the truth for everybody or just a select few depending on society and culture, Meta-Ethics Is broken down into two sections and they are called cognitive and non-cognitive and these are two different perspectives on the meaningfulness of ethical language. Cognitivism involves a view that states moral knowledge is possible and therefore all ethical statements can be meaningful because they can be proved whether they are true or false. Non Cognitivism on the other hand involves the belief that there can be no ethical knowledge because ethical language and statements give no factual information and therefore they are not as meaningful as they are not subject to the true or false test and this approach suggests that they are just expressions of emotion and prescriptive recommendations. The naturalistic fallacy is a form of ethical non-naturalism and it was devised by G.E Moore and Moore believed that the term “good” is a simple term like “that’s yellow” and it couldn’t be defined and he also believed that we couldn’t prove moral statements through the use of evidence, Moore also believed that the only...
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...Ethics Essay ETH 316 June 4, 2012 There are several ways to approach the level of normative ethics. Those most common are virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism. This paper intends to describe and compare the differences and similarities between the three. It will also take into account the relationship between virtue, values, and moral concepts and how they may relate to any of these theories. Utilitarianism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics are all parts of normative ethics. Utilitarianism recognizes the consequences of ones actions. Deontology is an emphasis of ones duty or rules involved with their life. Virtue ethics is also known as agent-based or character ethics. This type of ethics focuses on virtue or moral character. When a person exercises virtue ethics, that person makes their own excellence via knowledge gained by experience. This type of ethics is a good example to others and promotes basis for a life that others appreciate (Boylan, 2009). Utilitarianism is when a person feels that an action or thought is morally correct. Any result of promoted by the thought or action produces more of a utility for the group promoting the thought or action (Boylan, 2009). Deontological ethics are those that judge morality of an action by way of following rules. This type of ethics determines right or wrong based on the rules they are given and the duty of following those rules. The person that believes deontological ethics is best for them will...
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...is a normative ethical theory that contends we act morally when in any given situation the right thing to do will be whatever maximally promotes long term self-interest. It does not describe how people behave; rather, it describes how people "ought" to behave. (Class notes February 23) This is a key element of all normative theories. Another key element of egoism lies in “long term”. Simply stated, an ethical egoist would typically not endorse running up credit card debt. While it might fulfill one's interests in the moment, it would undermine one's long term self-interest. James Rachels says it best; "Ethical egoism endorses selfishness, but it doesn't endorse foolishness.” Rachels also suggests each of us possess the ability to know what is in our own best interest, therefore to attempt to provide charity to another would directly disregard that ability. In essences, to give a man a fish would suggest they do not have the same ability you possess to acquire their own fish. Based on principles outlined by James Rachels and others, Thomas Hobbes may be viewed to be an ethical egoist, although he argued that if everyone follows their own long term self-interest completely, a logical inconsistency would result. Thus part of following one's own long term self-interest in a larger society involves allowing others to follow their own self-interest, thus perhaps giving up some of one's own long term interests. (Class notes February 28) Utilitarianism is another normative ethical...
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...Virtue ethics is one out of three major parts of normative ethics. As the word ‘virtue’ describes the whole concept of virtue ethics i.e. it points to a set of character which leads to good behaviour. It portrays the behaviour of an individual not overall society. It includes the behaviour of a person towards others and is based on moral characters and virtues. Virtue ethics helps in encouraging people to adapt good behaviour in order to attain a good life. It is not based on duties or consequences unlike other two normative ethics. Virtue ethics indicate to help other because it is the kind thing to do. For example helping a old women to cross the road, is the kind thing to do but in helping her you are not getting any benefit it just a act of kindness. Virtue ethics add lots to morality as sometimes, there is necessity to think more than duty and consequences as a life exist between a person’s duty and consequences. Ethics of care often considered a part of virtue ethics. This theory also describes the character of individual and not of society as whole. It is based on the emotional relation i.e. friendship, care etc of an individual with other people. It gives significance to humanity and relationship with human. Family comes in the first step of care ethics. For example if a person mother is suffering from cancer in the last stage, and plead to award her death in order to free her from suffering and not be more burden on other family members. Ethics of caring is also...
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