5. Meta ethics: Intuitionism: H. A. Prichard
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 25-06-17 20:03
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- 5. Intuitionism: H. A. Prichard
- Outline of theory
- Built on Moore's work
- Developed moral thinking
- Clearer moral intuition
- 'ought to do'
- has no definition (like yellowness) yet everyone recognises what we ought to do in a certain situation
- Distinguished between:
- 1. "general thinking (reasoning"
- Used to assess the facts of a situation
- 2. "moral thinking"
- based on immediate intuition about the right thing to do
- 1. "general thinking (reasoning"
- Strengths
- Prichard's theory gives great insight into our actions and also the concept of duty in ethics
- Moore supports Moore's contention that there are certain terms used in ethics that cannot be justified or analysed
- Prichard's theory that intuitions about duty are self-evident paints a very positive picture about human nature and human ability to make ethical decisions
- Prichard's theory rests on something called personal introspection
- Which is the proper way of saying that we arrive at our own conclusions about something
- Underlines the idea of moral autonomy, that we are not puppets governed by moral laws
- Which is the proper way of saying that we arrive at our own conclusions about something
- Weaknesses
- Prichard's theory fails to explain how people with less developed intuition can learn how to make better judgements about duty
- Prichard's theory rests on personal introspection and subjective thought
- Many people (such as Kant) would disagree that our moral thinking should rest upon intuition and subjective thought
- In order to make world a more ethical place, we must offer objective criteria (such as Categorical Imperative) that everyone has duty to follow
- Many people (such as Kant) would disagree that our moral thinking should rest upon intuition and subjective thought
- Prichard seems to be saying that in order to arrive at the correct answer we just need to think about is properly
- This is of no benefit to those who have a poorly developed capacity for moral thought
- Prichard (along with Moore) does not explain how knowing our duty motivates us to do it
- This is a key problem with early Intuitionism
- Prichard's theory would be condemned by anybody who takes a deontological approach, such as Kant
- Kant argues that we can know our duty by applying the Categorical Imperataive
- Mary Warnock
- "With Prichard then, the intuitive clarity of his conclusions turns out to be fake clarity; and there is a good deal of bluster in assurance with which he finally states the conclusions themselves"
- Outline of theory
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