PY3102 Handout 1

 

Cognitivism:  Those who see moral claims as beliefs are called cognitivists about those claims.  Cognitivists emphasize two features of moral claims that make them similar to other beliefs of ours:

 

1.       Moral Claims are Truth-Indicative:  We say that moral and colours claims are true.

2.       Moral Claims are Fallible:  We can be wrong about these claims.

 

Those who see moral claims as involving something other than beliefs, say the expression of feelings, are called non-cognitivists. 

Objective Purport:  Our moral commitments seem to betray a commitment to objectivism:

 

Objectivism:  The view that that a) cognitivism is true and b) that our moral claims are made true by something independent of our beliefs about their truth and our desire that they be true. 

 

Naturalism:  The view that all there is in the world (ontology) is what our completed natural scientific theories tell us is there. 

 

Usually the naturalist adds that the natural sciences are nearly complete, and so our present science gives us a good idea as to what there is.  The facts picked out by the natural sciences are natural facts.

 

Descriptive Facts: Facts about what is the case.  These facts are not intrinsically action guiding.  You can believe that some descriptive fact obtains, be rational, and just not care. 

 

Normative Facts: Facts about what ought to be the case.  These facts are intrinsically action guiding.  You cannot believe that some descriptive fact obtains, be rational, and just not care.

1. Non-naturalists:  Those who think that normative facts are not identical to natural facts, and believe that there are normative facts.

 

2. Error-Theorists:  Those who think that normative facts are not identical to natural facts, and believe that there are no normative facts.

 

3. Non-Cognitivists:  Those who think that normative vocabulary does not express belief that some fact exists, but rather expresses our attitudes (Expressivism) or commands (Prescriptivism)

 

4. Naturalists:  Those who think, despite appearances, that normative facts are identical to natural facts. 

Stevenson’s Distinction between Kinds of Meaning:

 

Descriptive Meaning:  A sentence has descriptive meaning when it is typically used to convey information about the world.

 

Emotive Meaning:  A sentence has emotive meaning when it is typically used to express the speaker’s affective responses and to encourage others to share those responses.