Transcript Slides

Metaethics
Naturalism
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Everything can be explained in terms of the
things that occur in scientific theories of the
world
In ethics, if moral claims are either true or false
then there has to be something in the world
which makes them T or F
Is/Ought
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Hume
In every system of morality, …the
author proceeds for some time in the
ordinary way …; when of a sudden
I am surpiz’d to find, that instead
of the usual copulations of
propositions, is and is not, I meet
with no proposition that is not
connected with an ought, or an
ought not.
Is/Ought
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What does Hume’s argument show?
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Any domain of discourse is semantically sealed
What is Hume claiming?
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Any domain of discourse is ontologically sealed
The Naturalistic Fallacy
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Moore
Ethics aims at discovering what
are those other properties belonging
to all things which are good. But
far too many philosophers have
thought that when they named
those other properties they were
actually defining good; that these
properties, in fact, were simply not
‘other,’ but absolutely and entirely
the same with goodness.
The Naturalistic Fallacy
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Arguments
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The Open Question
Given any explanation of Good in terms of X you can
always ask whether a thing which has X is really good.
 Since the question makes sense, Good is not just having X
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Objections
Water is H2O
 Tautologies aren’t necessarily obvious to everyone
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The Naturalistic Fallacy
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Arguments
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Unmotivated Morality
To be good is to have natural property P
 Why am I motivated to do things with natural property P?
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Objection
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Haven’t found the motivator so far