Metaethics 1

Question 1

What are the four ways of looking at ethics?

Answer 1

The descriptive approach

The normative approach

The applied approach

Metaethics

Question 2

Whatis the descriptive approach of looking at ethics?

Answer 2

Describes and compares different approaches
to scenarios in cultures/societies

Question 3

What a normative approach of looking at ethics?

Answer 3

Tleological/deontological theories

Question 4

What is the applied approach at looking at ethics?

Answer 4

Applies normative theories to situations

Question 5

What is the metaethics way of looking at ethics?

Answer 5

The meaning of the language of ethics

Question 6

What are the two branches of metaethics?

Answer 6

Cognitive

Non-Cognative

Question 7

What is cognativism in terms of meta-ethics?

Answer 7

• Way of relating to what is right or wrong is known as moral realism

• Good and bad are separate from humans – good and bad exists independently of us

• ‘good’ and ‘bad’ do exist in the universe and can be used to describe things within the world but they are completely outside of human beings

• ‘murder is wrong’ – the action ‘murder’ has been given the property of ‘wrongness’. This is objectively true or false

Question 8

What is non-cognativism in terms of meta-ethics?

Answer 8

• When someone makes a moral statement they are merely expressing their emotions (emotivism) or making
a ‘call to action’ (prescriptivism)

• Morality is therefore not only subjective, but not a real thing

• Ethical statements cannot be described as objectively true or false