Meta - Ethics

Question 1

When talking about the differences in views on utilitarianism and the views of Mill and Bentam when mill is talking about ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ goods what famous quote does he

Answer 1

” it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”

There is the ‘higher’ intellectual pleasures that Socrates that he has within himself as he was very clever than the ‘lower’ most likely physical goods that the fool is satisfied with

Question 2

W.D. Ross stated that we have 6 duties we must do?

Ross comes under non-naturalism and

Answer 2

1) Keep our promises
2) pay back the harm we do to others
3) not injure others
4) return favours and services given to us by others
5) not harm innocent people
6) look after parents

These duties are ‘prima facie’ meaning at ‘first face’ meaning each duty is absolute

Question 3

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Intuitionism?

Answer 3

Strengths

1) Everyone has moral intuitions
2) It overcomes the central problem of Naturalism, namely the problem that there seems to be no agreement as to what the ‘facts’ of ethics are
3) It is realistic in admitting that moral intuition is not perfect, such as when our prima facie duties conflict

Weaknesses

1) Does not give a satisfactory answer to the question of how is it that we come to have intuitions about right and wrong, is it a faculty of the brain or does it amount simply to reasoning
2) Makes ethical decisions very difficult, since there seems to be no fundamental, reasoned basis upon which to argue
3) Influenced by social norms. in the 1700s we may have had ‘intuited’ that slavery is right
4) Weaknesses of non-cognitivism apply here
5) Moore states we cannot define ‘good’ but through neo-naturalism and biology they think it can be

Question 4

Divine Command Theory has 4 main points what are they?

Answer 4

a) God is all powerful and so has total freedom to do whatever he wishes
b) God chooses to not act unfairly, because that would be inconsistent with his nature
c) Therefore, God orders the universe by his divine law
d) Humans, being powerless, should obey God’s law

Question 5

What are the 4 types of ethics and what do they mean ?

Answer 5

• Descriptive ethics ( how should we behave and how does behaviors differ from societies and cultures)
• Meta-ethics ( what moral language is about like what do we actually mean if we say something is good or bad )
• Applied ethics ( applying normative principles and arguments to particular areas e.g. business ethics, legal ethics etc)
• Normative ethics ( how people should behave ; do we look at the consequence of an action or its intrinsic value when deciding how to act)

Question 6

Name exactly what the difference is between naturalism and non-naturalism ?

Answer 6

• Naturalism is grounded in the facts of human nature and nature and moral values are objective and can be described we can deduce right and wrong from peoples behaviour
• non-naturalism states that moral values such as saying something is ‘good’ it is simple and unanalysable non naturalism states we know what to do through whether it is gods word ( DCT ) or our own personal intuition

Question 7

What is a quote to support both Barth and Calvin’s DCT ?

Answer 7

Barth - “The will of god is the supreme rule of righteousness”

Calvin - “For the question of good and evil has been decided and settled once and for all by the decree of god”

Calvin uses this quote to support his view that the commands god set Christian ethics totally apart from general discussion about what is good or right

Question 8

What id DCT based on ?

Answer 8

DCT is based on both God’s moral character and God’s moral commands, and these commands are understood as statements of God’s will.

Question 9

What denomination of Christianity does Calvin and Barth’s interpretation of DCT come from?

Answer 9

• Protestantism

Question 10

In meta-ethics and the branches if meta-ethical theories what are tow examples of non-cognitivist theories ?

This is not needed to know but is good breadth of knowledge

Answer 10

• Emotivism

- Prescriptivism

Question 11

What are the strengths of DCT?

Answer 11

• The rules are universal and right for all times
• System is clear and straightforward. What god says is good must be good
• God is omnipresent and omnipotent and is totally aware of people’s good deeds and bad deeds. God is a totally fair judge
• Religious people would clearly accept as God is the grounds for their moral behaviour

Question 12

What are the weaknesses of DCT?

Answer 12

• Euthyphro problem which either has negative implications for God omnibenevolence or his omnipotence
• We do not know for certain that the commands in the Bible is what God gave them so texts today may not actually convey the actual meaning
• Problem of autonomy many people think that a morally good choice has to be free but DCT doesn’t really offer this choice because the promise of heaven and the threat of hell mean that people will choose to follow God’s command out of self-interest