Metaethics
by Anna Bromely
1. There are five strands/forms of investigation for metaethics: 1. Metaphysics - Objective (mind-independant) or subjective (mind-dependent) 2. Epistemology - moral truths, reasoning and justification 3. Semantics - meaning of right/wrong terms 4. Moral thought (mind)- What kind of thought is the thought that murder is wrong 5. Moral motivation (mind)- Is morality essentially motivating
2. Cognitivism Discovery of right/wrong Truth emphasising express propositions - 'abortion is wrong'
2.1. Realist cognitivism - there are moral properties, judgements are descriptions of how the world is.
2.2. Constructivism - Kant, moral 'properties' are constructions of reason
2.3. Mackie's challenge to cognitivism Error theory - The reasons for action grounded in moral requirements are NOT objective. They are dependent on agent's desires. -Metaphysical queerness - How can an objective property be intrinsically motivating, as morality is? -Epistemological queerness - How could we know these properties, intuition?
2.3.1. Replies to Mackie -Objectivity is part of 'fabric of the world'. What is he denying? -Cognitivsm that makes morality objective but not mind-independent (e.g. Kant, Scanlon) -Is morality necessarily motivating? Gap between T/F moral judgement and caring about morality -Non-cognitivism - Mackie is wrong in thinking we do talk/think about morality in this way - moral judgements are expressions of what we care about (non-cognitive states)