Ethical Naturalism includes advantages and types of Naturalism 3.0 / 5 based on 1 rating ? EthicsA2/A-levelOCR Created by: AbenaCreated on: 14-03-13 14:19 Naturalism Naturalism is a meta ethical approach that incorperates new scientific knowledge that began emerging during the 17th Century Ethical terms can be defined using 'Natural' terms used in science and mathmatics. Ethical statements are the same as non-ethical (natural) statements ethical statements are cognitive since they can be verfied and falsified e.g. 'Thomas More - executed for his beliefs in1535' and 'Thomas More was a good man' both can be proven true or false; both are cognitive statements 1 of 5 Theological Naturalist Thological naturalist (Thomas Aquinas) God's will defines morality goodness is linked to the will of God as seen in nature e.g. 'murder is wrong' becuase God commands against murder (10 commandments 'Thou shalt not kill'/ 'You shall not murder') 2 of 5 Hedonistic Naturalist Hedonistic Naturalism (R. B. Perry) goodness is a fact of pleasure or happiness R. B. Perry - 'good' means being an object of favourable interest', 'right' means being conductive to harmonious happines 'x' is good ='x' is an object of favourable intereset', 'y' is right = 'y' is conductive to harmonious happiness 3 of 5 Naturalist - F. H. Bradley wrote Ethical Studies (1876) a moral perspective is determined from 'self-relisation' and 'observing one's posiion in society' rejected hedonism as pleasures provide no final self-understanding rejected Kants idea of duty for the sake of dutyas it doesn't guide us in morality or give us 'human satisfacation' better approach would be to persue self-relisation within the community Our place/role in community provides a satifying life 'We must realise our true self' - learnt through family and community this places us firmly in the Universe To be a good person we must know our station and its duties once your position in life is decided, you have a duty to perform the function of that station 4 of 5 Criticisms of Naturalism G. E. Moore (Principa Ethica) 'The attempt to identify goodness with a natural qaulity is a mistake' 'To claim that moral statements can be verified or falsified using evidence it to commit the naturalistic fallacy More used what has become known as the Open question arguement For any natural property it always makes sense to ask 'is it good?' Shows that 'good' and 'bad' cannot be the names of natural properties in the way that 'rough' and 'smooth' are He based his arguement on David Hume's 'You cannot derive an ought from an is' ethical naturalism does not allow for moral dispute it is too simplistic ' 5 of 5
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