Emotivism

Emotivism is a non-cogntive (not subject to truth of falsity) theory

• Emotivism is a theory which says that moral statements are just expressions of feelings
• Emotivism holds that there is no ethical knowledge
• Emotivism will not tell you how to live a moral life
  • It simply heps us to understand moral statements

A. J. Ayer

• Ayer said: 'ethical terms do not serve only to express feelings. They are calculated also to arouse feeling, and so to stimulate action.'
  • When we talk about 'good' and 'bad'/ 'right' and 'wrong' - we are simply expressing emotional states of approval and disapproval 
  • Emotivism is rooted in the Vienna Cricle 
• in Language, Truth and Logic, Ayer states that there are two types of meaningful statements: 

1) Analytic statements - statements which are true by defintion e.g. 'All bachelors are unmarried men'

2) Synthetic statements - statements that can be true or false and can be tested using senses or experience

• Ethical statements are NOT verifiable - there are no empirical facts that can be checked to prove an ethical statement true or false 
  • However, although Ayer argues that ethical statements have no factual content, he does not believe they have no meaningful…