Intuitionists think that you can't define 'good,' but that you can know basic moral truths through intuition.
NOTES
- Good is indefinable
- Some terms have to be this way
- If every term were defined by other terms, then at least some would be defined in a circle
- A1 (Moore)
- In a definition, the definiendum and definiens are interchangeable
- The definiendum 'good' is not interchangeable with any definiens
- S1: it is always conceivable that the two are not the same
- E.g., CR: "Good" = "socially acceptable"
- Is it conceivable that a society accepts what's bad?
- Yes, you could imagine them accepting anything, and something has to be bad
- So, 'good' is indefinable
- Some terms have to be this way
- Good is
- objective
- real
- non-natural
- Self-evident basic moral truths
- Intuition
- Not inference
- A1: is-ought fallacy
- Moral reasoning must look like this:
- X is Y
- So, you ought to do X
-
- E.g.,
- Helping others is socially acceptable
- So, you ought to help others
- E.g.,
- This reasoning is invalid
- It's always possible that (a) is true and (b) is false
- So, we can't know basic moral truths through inference
- Moral reasoning must look like this:
- A1: is-ought fallacy
- Not inference
- Doesn't mean you can't be wrong
- Modus ponens is self-evident and obvious
- Modus tollens isn't
- If Pablo goes surfing, so will Queenie
- Queenie doesn’t surf
- Could Pablo go surfing?
- If he did, then Queenie would go
- But we just said she doesn't
- Affirming the consequent seems self-evident, but is false
- intuition
- direct intellectual apprehension- we see it directly and can't be wrong
- Alternatively, intellectual seeming- it seems to be a certain way to us, but that doesn't mean it is that way for sure
- In the same way as perceptual seemings
- Intuition
- O1: natures are discovered empirically
- Water & H2O
- R1: good is different
- Concept of water is purely phenomenological, but concept of good isn't like that
- O2: moral disagreement
- Trolley problems
- Switch
- Fat man
- Matters which order you hear them in
- People disagree about answers
- R1: agreement in the basics
- Don't harm without cause
- Just not sure in these cases what considerations outweigh which
- O1: disagreement in basics
- Maximize good consequences
- Set of rules: don't kill fetuses, don't rape, etc.
- Trolley problems
- O3: source of intuitions
- Many moral intuitions come from society
- See the burning widow video
- R1: some are universal
- Many moral intuitions come from society
Further Reading
G.E. Moore, "Principia Ethica"
W.D. Ross, "The Right and the Good"
H. Sidgwick, "The Methods of Ethics"
Harry J. Gensler, "Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction"
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