Metaethics

Question 1

Define moral realism

Answer 1

Moral realism is a cognitive theory of the nature of moral facts and judgments. It claims that moral judgments are made true or false by objective, mind-independent moral properties

Question 2

what is moral cognitivism

Answer 2

a theory that moral judgments express beliefs and can be true or false and aim to describe the world

Question 3

Explain the diffrence between Cognitivism and non-cognitivism about religious language (5m–2019)

Answer 3

• A cognitivist account of religious language would typically argue that religious claims aim to describe
  how the world/reality is: they express beliefs that such-and-such is the case (i.e. they are ‘truth apt’).
  For example, the sentence “God exists” expresses the belief that God exists, which is true or false depending on whether it describes or mis-describes reality.
• A non-cognitivist account of religious language would typically argue that religious claims do not aim
  to describe the world through assertions which may be true or false (so religious beliefs are not ‘truth apt’). Rather, they express non-belief-like attitudes towards the world, such as emotions, desires, faith, or guiding principles (students may mention Hare’s ‘bliks’). For example, the sentence “God exists” expresses a commitment to a certain way of life/of interpreting the world.