Philosophy 13 Lecture Notes; Introduction to （哲学13课堂讲稿;介绍）.pdf

1 Philosophy 13 Lecture Notes; Introduction to Mills Utilitarianism Recap: So far we have distinguished some opposed views about the nature of ethical claims . Ethical claims are claims about how we ought to live, w hat actions we should choose, what character we should develop. Ethical claims include claims about what is good and choiceworthy in human life as well as claims about what is prudent to do and what is morally right (permissible or required) to do. Example of an ethical claim: Abortion is morally wrong. Cognitivism. Ethical claims make genuine assertions, capable of being true or false. Some significant ethical claims are true. Noncognitivism. Ethical claims do not make genuine assertions, capable of being true or false. There are varieties of noncognitivism. • According to emotivism/expressivism, ethical claims ex press the emotions or attitudes or commitments of the speaker. According to the emotivist, Abortion is wrong means roughly Boo on abortion! Abortion is morally right means roughly Yeah for Abortion! • According to prescriptivism, ethical claims are somew hat like commands or orders. The function of an ethical claim is not to state some purported truth but to induce people to behave as you want them to behave. The Error Theory. When we use ethical language, we commit ourselves to making genuine assertions. But w hen we do this, we are systematically in error. No ethical claims actually succeed in making genuine assertions that could be true or false. Our moral and ethical language as ordinarily understood by competent speakers embodies a big confusion. These and other possible views about the nature of moral claims don’t take a stand as to substantive ethical issues about what we ought to do, how we should live. You could be a cogn