SURAH 1 AND 96

SURAH 1 AND 96

  • Submitted By: Sarah-II
  • Date Submitted: 10/04/2016 1:29 PM
  • Category: Religion
  • Words: 9815
  • Page: 40

Ethics
Meta-ethics
Meta-ethics – analyses the use of ethical language, such as what is good/bad
Normative ethics – analyses the moral value of an action/thing
Cognitivism – ethical statements are meaningful as they can be proved or falsified
Non-cognitivism – ethical language does not give information and thus cannot be proved, instead it merely expresses emotions it wishes of the person using it
Teleological – concerned with achieving a desirable end (e.g. Utilitarianism)
Deontological – ethics based on duty (e.g. Kant, Christian ethics)
Analytical statements – true by definition (e.g. a triangle has 3 sides)
Synthetic statements – can only be verified by senses (e.g. it is raining outside)
Objective – there is a universal and common understanding of what is good
Subjective – good is only known to the individual; what is good varies for each individual

Naturalism
Developed from empiricism
We observe the world around us and create moral theories that fit our observations
“good” exists and can be seen/described empirically
Moral language is an objective fact; moral statements are objective as they can be measured empirically, so are applicable to all
Hume
Statements are either analytic or synthetic – Hume’s fork
Moral language is neither, so it has no inherent meaning and cannot be analysed the same way
It is therefore subjective (take this as a challenge to the objective claims of naturalism)
So the only way to understand moral statements is by experiencing good/bad
This essentially is making an “is” from an “ought”, which leads to the naturalistic fallacy
Naturalistic fallacy – challenge to naturalism
Naturalism and Hume derives an ‘ought’ (a moral judgement) from an ‘is’ (a fact)
Making an ethical judgement factual
G.E. Moore – this is a fallacy as “to define an ethical judgement as a statement of fact is an error”
Ethical statements can’t be proved with reference to facts
Hume – attempting to derive an “ought” from an “is” is...

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