seeks to understand the meaning of moral
statements and examine ethical language
e.g. 'good', 'bad', 'right' and 'wrong'
Cognitive
Objective approach to statements
that are known to be true or false
and are based on fact
Naturalism
The belief that you can treat
ethical statements the same as
non-ethical statements
F.H.Bradley
he stated that we discovr moral obligation from society and that
moral activity is finding our position with society and carrying out
our duties
Intuitionism
Tells us that our ethical and moral
truths are known and understood by
our intuition
G.E.Moore
He stated that 'good' is a simple,
indefinable, unanalysable property, like a
primary colour
Believed we cannot us our senses to
know what is good or bad we just know
using our 'moral intuition'
H.A.Prichard
Agreed with moore that good is indefinable but
also stated that obligation was also indefinable;
people know when they should act when in a
certain situation through our intuition
W.D.Ross
He believed that our intuition helps us to know our
Prima Facie Duties; these are obvious actions we
know to be right and must obey
Non-Cognitive
Subjective approach to
statements that are neither true
or false based on peoples feeling
and emotion
Emotivism
Ethical statements are an
expression of ones emotions
and opinions
A.J.Ayer
He developed the
Boo-Hurrah Theory
Theory illustrates the principles of emotivism e.g. if
one were to say murder is wrong they are really say
'boo to murder' and if one were to say being kind is
good they are really saying 'hurrah to being kind'
C.L.Stevenson
He modified Ayer's approach by stating that ethical
language was based on beliefs individual's have about the
world as well as expressing emtions
Presciptivism
the belief that ethical statements
are a way of influencing others to
follow in what you believe in
R.H.Hare
He agreed that ethical language expresses
our emotions however he claims that ethical
statements also was a way of influencing
others to follow what we believe. It is a way
of prescribing our opinions onto others.