Rachels chapter 3 Ethical subjectivism

 

Ethical subjectivism

  1. Our moral opinions are based on our feelings.
  2. There is no objective right and wrong.
  3. When you say that something is wrong, you are only expressing your feeling of disapproval.

 

Simple subjectivism

“ When a person says that something is morally good or bad, this means that he or she approves of that thing or disapproves of it, and nothing more.”

 

Objections to simple subjectivism:

  1. The Infallible Objection
    1. If simple subjectivism is true this means that when you say something is bad, you are saying that you disapprove of it, or have a bad feeling about that thing.
    2. You cannot be mistaken about what you have good or bad feelings about, or about what you approve or disapprove of.
    3. Therefore you cannot be mistaken about moral judgments.
    4. But, we are often mistaken about in our moral judgments. 

 

  1. The Disagreement Objection
    1. There cannot be disagreement about what someone approves of.

                                                               i.      Bradley and Falwell each admit that the other is right in stating that the other approves of a particular belief.

    1. According to simple subjectivism, to say that something in moral is to state approval of it.
    2. Hence, there cannot be disagreement about what is moral.
    3. But, we disagree about what is moral all the time.

 

How can two bad feelings interact with one another?

 

Emotivism – Charles Stevenson

 

Language can be used to express:

  1. Facts:  “Angie Welle scored 24 points.”
  2. Commands:  “Go to all the Women’s Basket Ball Games that you can.”
  3. Attitudes: “Hurrah for Angie Welle!!”
    1. There is a difference between reporting versus expressing an attitude:

                                                               i.      “I like Angie Welle” (this is a fact)

                                                             ii.      “You’re the queen Angie”

 

Moral language is used:

1)      “as a means of influencing other’s behavior.”   (i.e. a command)

 

2)      “to express (not report) one’s attitude.”

 

The important difference between SS and E:

  1. Simple subjectivism: Moral statements are just statements of fact reporting a person’s attitudes.
     “Angie is good” = “I approve of Angie”

 

  1. Emotivism: a moral statement is the expression of an attitude or a command.
    “Angie is good” = “Hurrah Angie” or “Angie is the Queen”

 

The Infallible Objection does not work against Emotivism because Emotivism is not about facts that can be true or false.

 

The Disagreement Objection does not work against Emotivism because there is a difference between disagreeing about our beliefs and disagreeing about our desires.

a.      Disagreement in attitude: two people want different things, both of which cannot happen. People have different desires or make different commands. (Emotivism)

b.      Disagreement about attitude: two people believe different things, both of which cannot be true. (SS)

c.      “You and I may agree in all of our judgments about our attitudes: we agree that you think Angie Welle is a rotten player and that I think that Angie Welle is a great player.  But we still disagree in our attitude: I wish that you would think “hurrah Angie”

                                                               i.      “I disagree with your attitude about Angie Welle but I don’t doubt that you believe that Angie is a rotten basketball player (even thought I think that you are a bozo for believing so).”

 

Problem with Emotivism:

A good moral theory ought to be able to make the connection between moral judgments and the reasons for those judgments.

 

According to Emotivism a reason is anything that works to change your attitude, even if it is the sort of thing, such as an appeal to racism, which ought not change your attitude.

 

This is a flaw in the theory.