Part I: Ethics

Chapter 2

Study questions for What is Metaethics?

  1. Give examples of some serious moral disagreements. What explanations can you give for why people disagree about these things?
  2. What does moral relativism say about moral judgements? Are there any areas where our judgements are relative to the majority beliefs in our culture?
  3. Explain, in your own words, what subjectivism says, and why it might be plausible. Can the subjectivist really account for moral disagreement?
  4. Why can’t moral properties be natural properties, according to G. E. Moore?
  5. Explain, in your own words, why people think there is a link between morality and action. Why do objectivist accounts struggle to explain this link?

Multiple Choice Questions

Weblinks for What is metaethics?

http://ethics-etc.com/about/. [A forum for discussing issues in ethics, with a section on metaethics.]

http://peasoup.typepad.com/. [Another good online discussion site, with a lot of discussion of metaethics.]

Sayre-McCord, Geoffrey (2012). ‘Metaethics’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaethics/. [An excellent overview of central issues in metaethics.]

Introductory further reading for What is metaethics?

Kirchin, Simon (2012). Metaethics. Palgrave Macmillan. [A clear, accessible and thorough introduction to central questions in metaethics.]

Miller, Alexander (2013). Contemporary Metaethics: An Introduction. 2nd edition. Polity Press. [Both an excellent and comprehensive introductory text and a rigorous and sophisticated discussion of contemporary debates.]

Advanced further reading for What is metaethics?

Harman, Gilbert and Jarvis Thomson, Judith (1996). Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity. Wiley-Blackwell. [A stimulating debate between two of the world’s best moral philosophers,

Harman putting the case for relativism, Jarvis Thomson the case that morality is objective.]

Moore, G. E. (1903/1993). Principia Ethica. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press. [Moore’s classic and influential book, which presents his attack on naturalistic accounts of morality.]

Schroeder, Mark (2010). Noncognitivism in Ethics. Routledge. [An excellent overview of expressivist theories.]

Smith, Michael (1994). The Moral Problem. Blackwell. [A splendid book covering many of the central issues in metaethics, and a particularly illuminating discussion of moral motivation.]