Metaethics
Sandra LaFave
The next part of the class will focus on metaethical challenges
to
normative
ethics
Metaethics
is analytical, critical thinking about the presuppositions of normative
ethics. Metaethics asks questions like “What do normative theories mean by ‘good’ and ‘right’?”; “How can moral judgments be proved?”;
“Why be moral at all?”, etc. A
number of metaethical questions constitute significant challenges to
the very enterprise of normative ethics; for example,
-
Is morality merely a matter of individual feelings
(emotions)
rather than reason?
The view that moral statements are reports or
expressions of
individual feelings is called subjectivism.
-
Is morality possible without religion?
We will explore this question in our module "Ethics and
Religion."
-
Is morality merely social convention, and thus relative to
culture, and possibly different from culture to culture?
The view that morality is merely social convention (how one's
culture
feels, and thus not a matter of reason) is called cultural relativism or
ethical
relativism. Relativism is like subjectivism at the level of culture.
Relativism is widely believed, but there are strong arguments
against it.
-
Is morality merely a system for the manipulation of one social
group (for example, working people, women, ethnic minorities) by the
dominant group?
We will explore this question in our module "Ethics and
Ideology."
-
Are people really capable of altruistic (non-self-interested)
behavior?
The view that people are incapable of altruistic behavior is
called
psychological egoism. ("Mother Teresa, that bitch -- she just wants a
higher place
in heaven. She's doing all those so-called unselfish acts for her own selfish
reasons!")
The view that people should pursue their own self-interest is called ethical
egoism. Like cultural relativism, psychological egoism is widely believed but
seriously flawed. Ethical egoism needs a lot of analysis and clarification: whether
you
should adopt ethical egoism depends on what you mean by "do what's in
your self-
interest".
-
Even if people are capable of altruistic behavior, is it
rational to be altruistic?
This is a deep question. Why should I care about being
moral?
Plato's Republic tries to answer it.
-
Do people have free will, a prerequisite for morality, in
the first place?
This topic is normally treated in Philosophy 1 and we will not
pursue
it in this class. If you are interested in the free will question, have a look at my
notes on "Free Will and Determinism."
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