What is Cognitivism in meta-ethics? (L2 - Cognitivism) — Transcript

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1. 0:00most people are cognitivists when it
2. 0:02comes to metaethics are you if so do you
3. 0:05know what kind
4. 0:09in this video we're going to explore the
5. 0:11continuous side of our meta ethics map
6. 0:13so we're ready to begin evaluation next
7. 0:15lesson
8. 0:18the most important way counters disagree
9. 0:20is on the nature of moral truth is
10. 0:22objective or subjective this is the
11. 0:25difference between cognitivist realism
12. 0:27and cognitivist anti-realism
13. 0:31realism is the belief that good refers
14. 0:33to something out there in the world good
15. 0:35exists independently of us it's not the
16. 0:37creation of anyone but rather we
17. 0:39discover it as a fact about the universe
18. 0:41it is real anti-realism is the belief
19. 0:43that good does not refer to anything
20. 0:46independent of us morality is created by
21. 0:48human beings or other beings rather than
22. 0:51a discoverable fact about the universe
23. 0:53morality is mind-dependent it is made up
24. 0:57perhaps the simplest way to remember
25. 0:59this distinction is that realists
26. 1:01believe morality can be true objectively
27. 1:03anti-realists believe morality can be
28. 1:05true only subjectively
29. 1:24before more clarification on
30. 1:25anti-realism let's check our
31. 1:27understanding which are realist and
32. 1:29which are anti-release positions pause
33. 1:31to give you some time to think and
34. 1:32decide in your answer and focus on being
35. 1:34able to give an explanation for why for
36. 1:37each
37. 1:39let's check to see if you got these
38. 1:40right the first two are anti-realist as
39. 1:43they are claiming that morality is only
40. 1:44subjectively true either based on
41. 1:46someone's opinion or society's opinion
42. 1:49there's nothing objective here however
43. 1:51number three and four are saying what
44. 1:53makes something wrong is an observable
45. 1:55fact about the world either relating to
46. 1:57pain or function notice neither of these
47. 2:00are dependent on anyone's opinion if
48. 2:02something causes pain is wrong if
49. 2:04something goes against our function it's
50. 2:05wrong wrong for everyone objectively
51. 2:08it's a fact we can observe about the
52. 2:10universe it is a realist position in
53. 2:12metaethics what about the last one it is
54. 2:15actually anti-realist now that surprises
55. 2:17some students if it surprised you can
56. 2:20you now think why it might be
57. 2:21anti-realist this is an example of
58. 2:23divine command theory whatever god
59. 2:25commands is what is good now remember
60. 2:27our definitions realism is saying
61. 2:29morality is objective and not dependent
62. 2:31on a mind exists independently as a fact
63. 2:34about the universe well this is
64. 2:36dependent on a mind god's mind if god
65. 2:38changes a command then morality changes
66. 2:41it's not tied to a fact about the
67. 2:43universe it's subjective as it's based
68. 2:45on god's view of morality in a sense god
69. 2:49can make it up this makes it an
70. 2:51anti-realist position before we move on
71. 2:53let's just formalize these three
72. 2:55anti-release positions so you can take
73. 2:57notes this view is called individualism
74. 2:59moral statements can be true or false
75. 3:02but only in how they compare to any
76. 3:03individual's personal morality you can
77. 3:06see why this limits moral claims to
78. 3:08being subjectively true rather than
79. 3:10objectively this view is called cultural
80. 3:14relativism this is the view that each
81. 3:16culture has its own norms and values so
82. 3:18we can say whether something's morally
83. 3:19good or bad in relation to that
84. 3:21culturally dependent standard but
85. 3:23nothing is objectively morally good or
86. 3:25bad for all cultures last we have divine
87. 3:28command theory morality depends on god's
88. 3:30commands when in the story of abraham
89. 3:33god asked him to kill his son it became
90. 3:35morally good for abraham to do so when
91. 3:37he's offered a sheep to kill instead it
92. 3:39became morally wrong for abraham to now
93. 3:41kill his son morality can change
94. 3:43depending on god's commands making it
95. 3:45subjective we have now examined
96. 3:48anti-realism let's now examine realism
97. 3:50in more depth with perhaps the exception
98. 3:52of divine command theory traditionally
99. 3:54much of moral philosophy has assumed
100. 3:56some form of realism that the good is
101. 3:58objective there are two main types
102. 4:01naturalism and non-naturalism
103. 4:04naturalism has been the most widespread
104. 4:06view in moral language as this is the
105. 4:08basis for many of the most successful
106. 4:10norms of ethical theories utilitarianism
107. 4:12natural moral law situation ethics and
108. 4:14virtue ethics are all naturalistic when
109. 4:17it comes to their meta ethics naturalism
110. 4:19is a view that what makes something
111. 4:20objectively good is how it relates to
112. 4:22something empirically observable
113. 4:25in other words moral knowledge is known
114. 4:27a posteriori for example in
115. 4:30utilitarianism an action is good if it
116. 4:32produces the greatest amount of
117. 4:34happiness for the greatest number this
118. 4:36is an objective fact about the universe
119. 4:38we can gain knowledge of through
120. 4:40observation a posteriori
121. 4:42or a natural moral law an action is good
122. 4:44if it aligns with our function our
123. 4:46function we discover through observation
124. 4:49a posteriori
125. 4:51non-naturalism on the other hand is a
126. 4:52view that what makes something
127. 4:54objectively good is known a priori i'll
128. 4:57give you a little more info here on two
129. 4:59types of non-naturalism one that relies
130. 5:01on intuition and one that relies on
131. 5:04reason intuitionism put forward by
132. 5:06philosophers like g.e moore stated that
133. 5:08we can gain access to objective moral
134. 5:11knowledge through our intuitions we can
135. 5:13all know what is right and wrong we all
136. 5:15have gut feelings about morality that do
137. 5:18not require experience these feelings
138. 5:20are inbuilt
139. 5:21they are a priori when we see something
140. 5:23wrong we just feel it to be wrong this
141. 5:25is intuitionism
142. 5:27canteen ethics is another example of
143. 5:29non-naturalism as camp believed we could
144. 5:31discover moral maxims rules through
145. 5:34reason alone a priori recall he proposed
146. 5:37the principle of universalizability part
147. 5:39of his categorical imperative which was
148. 5:42a method for identifying morally good
149. 5:44and bad actions that did not require
150. 5:46observation he said an action can only
151. 5:48be good if it was possible to imagine
152. 5:50everyone doing it without creating a
153. 5:52performative contradiction this shows
154. 5:54that morality is noble from reason alone
155. 5:58to summarize naturalism means objective
156. 6:01morality is known a posteriori for
157. 6:04example utilitarianism natural moral law
158. 6:06non-naturalism is the viewed objective
159. 6:08morality is known a priori like
160. 6:11intuitionism or canteen ethics let's
161. 6:14display these positions with the extra
162. 6:16detail we now have on our map pause if
163. 6:18you want to have a closer look this
164. 6:20video is helping you at all please let
165. 6:22me know in the comments genuinely
166. 6:24feedback is appreciated or if you have
167. 6:25any questions i'll try and respond right
168. 6:28can you now draw that map from memory
169. 6:30try a few times till you get it locked
170. 6:32down it'll help you visualize how
171. 6:34everything pieces together pause and
172. 6:35have a go with that now
173. 6:40so you confident on these definitions
174. 6:42okay then where do i fit on this map
175. 6:45number one i believe morality is
176. 6:47meaningful and that morality is
177. 6:48objective and known from experience what
178. 6:51am i
179. 6:52i'm a cognitivist realist naturalist
180. 6:55number two i believe that morality can
181. 6:57be true or false i believe is true or
182. 6:59false based on how it compares to my own
183. 7:02personal morality what am i
184. 7:05i'm a cogtivist anti-realist
185. 7:07individualist number three i'm a natural
186. 7:10moral law theorist so i believe we can
187. 7:13learn what's objectively true or false
188. 7:15based on our function what am i
189. 7:18i'm a countivist realist naturalist
190. 7:20number four
191. 7:22i believe morality is meaningful but we
192. 7:24cannot gain knowledge about morality
193. 7:25from experience instead we all have
194. 7:27access to objective moral knowledge
195. 7:29through our intuitions what am i i'm a
196. 7:32cognitivist realist non-naturalist and
197. 7:35in this case i'm an intuitionist number
198. 7:38five we can check to see if something is
199. 7:40moral or not by checking the moral
200. 7:42standards of the culture we're currently
201. 7:44in but different cultures have different
202. 7:46rules what am i
203. 7:48i'm a cognitivist anti-realist cultural
204. 7:50relativist
205. 7:52number six i do not think moral language
206. 7:54is meaningful
207. 7:55what am i
208. 7:57okay a bit mean because it's not here
209. 7:58but hopefully you remember i am a
210. 8:00non-contivist more on this in another
211. 8:02video and lastly number seven
212. 8:04i believe that morality can be true or
213. 8:06false and we can discover this by
214. 8:08comparing our actions to god's commands
215. 8:11what am i i'm a counterist anti-realist
216. 8:14divine command theorist
217. 8:15i hope you managed to get most of those
218. 8:17correct if you didn't go back and try
219. 8:19again i'll see you in the next video
220. 8:24[Music]
221. 8:39you