As a further definition, Mackie posits that an objective moral value has the quality of ‘ought-to-be-pursued-ness’, it is something one should or ought do because it contains an inherently normative aspect. If Mackie’s argument is to succeed, it must prove that this supposed normative aspect has no existence within any act in itself, but has its origin in the agent of said act, and as such, all moral claims are false. Mackie’s exposition of moral relativism comes in the form of two main arguments, the first being his ‘argument from relativity’, the second, his ‘argument from queerness’. It is with the argument from relativity that I shall be here concerned. The argument from relativity is based around the purely ‘descriptive’ idea that it is an empirically observable fact that there seems to be
Meta ethics tries to make sense of the terms and concepts used in ethical theories such as Utilitarianism and Natural Law. Some people believe that ethical language is extremely meaningful as they argue it is essential to be able to define terms such as “good” and “bad” before we can even begin to discuss ethical theories. However others disagree with this and argue that moral statements are subjective so are meaningless, as they cannot be described as either true or false. Those who hold cognitive theories about ethical language would argue that ethical statements are not meaningless as they are about facts, and can therefore be proved true or false. Ethical Naturalism is a cognitive theory of meta ethics which holds the belief that
Meta ethics tries to make sense of the terms and concepts used in ethical theories. Some people believe that ethical language is extremely meaningful as they argue it is essential to be able to define terms such as “good” and “bad” before we can even begin to discuss ethical theories. However others disagree with this and argue that moral statements are subjective so cannot be meaningful as they cannot be described as either true or false. Those who hold cognitive theories about ethical language would argue that ethical statements are meaningful as they are about facts and can therefore be proved true or false. Ethical Naturalism is a cognitive theory of Meta ethics which holds the belief that ethical statements are the same as non ethical ones, so can be verified or falsified in the same way.
Moral Treatment of Animals and Humans: A Discussion of the Focus of Morality. Name Class Date Moral Treatment of Animals and Humans: A Discussion of the Focus of Morality. The treatment of creatures that are not human is the subject of an article by Bonnie Steinbock where she focuses her ideas on the idea of the link between treatment of a being and their equality to the human race. In focusing her argument on equality, she attempts to show that creatures are not human and there for do not have the right to the same kind of humane treatment that humans are given. Her focus on the argument and the counterarguments are on the recipient of treatment rather than the morality of the giver of treatment.
While these theories hold much in common regarding how they see morality, they differ greatly in their reasoning for why they think that way. Aristotelian virtue ethics focus more on the person as a moral creature at heart and their desire for morality to be the driving force behind moral behavior. An excellent example of the difference in the three theories in this instance would be a situation involving lying. Dishonesty is considered morally wrong by most theories of ethics, but all of the moral theories approach it differently. Deontology, as espoused by Immanuel Kant, would argue against the morality of lying from a moral absolutism standpoint.
Actions that bring more pain than pleasure into the world are bad. Whatever action maximises the balance of pleasure minus pain is the right thing to do. One criticism against utilitarianism is that it seems to license reason to commit acts that forgetting any sort of moral reasoning are wrong according to every persons human rights. An example of this criticism is rape, where the victim’s unhappiness would be discounted as it
The second approach is Non-Cognitivism, this is the view that ethical language cannot be known and understood, due to subjectivity. One Cognitivism theory is that of Ethical Naturalism, it states that one can determine the moral value of an object or person simply through empirical observation. For example one can determine that “the knife is good, because it is sharp”. The term good here denotes that the object serves its purpose and is of use. In the writings of Principa Ethica(1903);G.E Moore criticises the cognitive stance of Ethical naturalism of Naturalistic fallacy.
This demonstrates Kathy’s obligation to do what is ‘right’ and adheres to a deontological approach to ethics. Deontology is a form of ethics that determines goodness or rightness from examining acts, rather than the consequences of the act (Kant, 1964). The intentions of the person doing the act is prioritized over the act’s results (Kant, 1964). For example, the act may be considered the ‘right’ thing to do even if it produces a bad consequence if it adheres to the rule that ‘one should do unto others as they would have done unto them’ (Olson, 1967). Deontology parallels the EAI’s obligation-driven analysis, exemplified by
Article : Reitman, Oonagh, “Cultural Relativist and Feminist Critique of International Human Right”, 1997, pp. 100-114. The journal titled Cultural Relativist and Feminist Critique in International Human Right is basically talking about the similarity and the tension between two major groups which is Cultural relativism and feminism. They both critique about International Human right. The newest critique happened in United Nation Conference in 1994 that discussed about Family planning and the rights of women to control their own body.
The four main features of Care Ethics are the belief that women and men are morally equal, the experiences of women are necessary to have an accurate ethical theory, that certain traits that are associated with women are as important as those associated with males, and that feminine ways of moral reasoning may be superior to masculine ways of reasoning. These particular principles stem from the fact that in many other ethical theories women are either talked down or not mentioned at all. Feminist Ethics works to show that women are equal and that their emotions and how much they care does not hinder them ethically, it actually strengthens their moral character. Including your emotions and taking into consideration who and what you care about is the most important thing the Care Ethics. Therefore that is what they ask you to consider when making a moral decision.