PPT-Hume’s emotivism Michael Lacewing

enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk c Michael Lacewing Cognitivism and moral realism What are we doing when we make moral judgments Cognitivism moral judgments eg Murder is wrong. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Descartes on clear and distinct ideas. Clear and distinct ideas can be known to be true. Clear: Present, accessible to the attentive mind. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Am I a brain in a vat?. Knowledge is not belief (even true belief). Are my reasons for my beliefs sufficient for knowledge?. Maybe all my experiences are fed to me by a supercomputer. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. The good. ‘What is the good for human beings?’. . What . is it that we are aiming . at?. What. . would provide a successful, fulfilling, good life. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Stealing. Steal: . to take someone else’s property with no intention of returning it and without their permission (or without the legal right to do so. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Hedonist act utilitarianism. Actions . are morally right or wrong depending on their consequences and nothing else. An act is right if it maximises what is good.. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Utilitarianism. A. ct . utilitarianism:. . an action is right if it . maximises. happiness, and wrong if it does not. . I. f . telling a lie creates more happiness than telling the truth (or keeping silent), then telling a lie is morally right. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Cognitivism v. non-cognitivism. What are we doing when we. make moral judgments?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. Aim to describe how the world is. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Descartes’ question. Cosmological arguments usually ask ‘why does anything exist’?. Descartes doubts the existence of everything, and offers his cosmological argument after showing only that he exists.. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Metaethics. What is morality, philosophical speaking?. Can ethical claims be objectively true or false?. Are moral properties part of reality?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Idealism. Idealism: everything that exists is a mind or dependent on a . mind. Berkeley: . to . be is to be perceived (or to perceive): . esse est percipi . enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . What do we perceive?. Direct realism: we perceive physical objects, which exist independent of our experience. Physical objects existed before minds. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Descartes’ question. Cosmological arguments usually ask ‘why does anything exist’?. Descartes doubts the existence of everything, and offers his cosmological argument after showing only that he exists. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Simulated killing. The dramatisation, i.e. enactment, . of killing within a fictional context, e.g. in video games, films and . plays. Playing the killer. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Life. Isn’t life amazing?. Organs serve a purpose – heart – pump blood, eye – seeing. We understand parts of an organ in relation to serving this purpose.