1. Philosophizing about ethics
Analyzing the terms used in ethical
discourse
Unpacking the structure of ethical theory
2. The theory that value statements can be
defined in terms of factual statements.
Fact: What is signified by empirically
verifiable statements.
Value: What is signified by an evaluation of
a sentence.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_naturalism
3. The theory that moral facts exist but are
not natural.
Moral facts are discovered by intuition.
The task for philosophers is to define the
terms used and the source of the
definition of the terms in philosophizing.
4. This theory holds that moral judgments
do not have truth values.
Moral judgments are expressions of our
attitudes.
These judgments express our feelings and
help us to persuade others to act as we
desire.
5. The ethical theory that the good or right
thing to do can be known directly via
the intuition.
G. E. Moore claims that a concept like
the ‘Good’ is unanalyzable.
6. The Humean Thesis: Ought statements
cannot be derived from ‘is’ statements.
The Platonic Thesis: Basic value terms
refer to nonnatural properties.
The Cognitive Thesis: Moral statements
are either true or false, which can be
known.
The Intuition Thesis: Moral truths are
discovered by intuition and are self-
evident upon reflection.
7. Value judgments do not have truth
values, they are more than mere
expression of attitudes.
Moral judgments are universal
prescriptions.
Moral judgments are given to guide
actions.
8. A dependency relationship between
properties or facts of one type with
properties or facts of another type.
In metaethics, supervenience is the idea
that moral properties supervene or
emerge out of natural ones.
For example, badness comes out of pain
or goodness comes out of happiness.
9. This principle states that if some act is
wrong (or right) for one person in a
situation, then it is wrong (or right) for any
relevantly similar person in that kind of
situation.
It is a principle of consistency that aims
to eliminate irrelevant considerations
from ethical assessments.
10. Principles are central to moral reasoning.
Principles serve as major premises in our
moral arguments.
We acquire or learn a basic set of
principles.
Then we learn when to use or when to
subordinate those principles.
We choose when, where, and why to
apply our specific principles.