What is your metaethics?

[Eudaimonist]

Lately, a number of threads have been started regarding objective versus subjective approaches to ethics. I thought that it would be interesting to start a poll to see what sort of metaethics people here have.

Metaethics - YouTube

This video gives a good thumbnail description of the main metaethical approaches found in philosophy.

Metaethically, I'm an ethical naturalist, which also makes me a moral realist and a cognitivist. (Ethically, I favor virtue ethics.)


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Ripheus27]

Constructivism (for a nice overview of which see Constructivism in Metaethics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)).

 

[Eudaimonist]

Constructivism (for a nice overview of which see Constructivism in Metaethics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)).

What type of constructivism? I see several mentioned at the site.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Ripheus27]

What type of constructivism? I see several mentioned at the site.

I don't wanna sound like a shill for Kant, plus Hannah Arendt (much a Kantian herself, granted) has affected my constructivism especially in political terms, so... I'll toss out "Neo-Kantian constructivist."

 

[quatona]

I find most of my ideas reflected in radical constructivism.

 

[Crandaddy]

Metaethically, I'm an ethical naturalist, which also makes me a moral realist and a cognitivist. (Ethically, I favor virtue ethics.)

Yup, ditto here.

Completely off-topic (sorry), but could you please tell me where you found that "Scientific Americat" picture that you had in your signature recently? I wanna send that to a friend of mine.

 

[Eudaimonist]

For the record, my ethical views aren't based on any Rawlsian veil of ignorance style reasoning, so I doubt that I'm a constructivist, even of the cool Aristotelian kind.

As for "Scientific Americat", I found that at Facebook.

This isn't the same website, but you can Google "Scientific Americat" for more if the link breaks.

eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Crandaddy]

Thanks, Mark!

For some reason Google wouldn't turn up any hits for me, but since you've reposted the the picture for me now it does. Strange.

 

[brightlights]

Theist. Error theory or subjectivism.

 

[brightlights]

I might amend mine to Divine Command or Ideal Observer after watching that video. I took a metaethics course in my undergrad.

 

[Jade Margery]

Hmmm, I don't think I fall very well into any of those categories, although my thoughts on ethics do overlap several of them. Kind of a blend of cultural subjectivism, individual subjectivism, naturalism, and emotivism.

I think I'll go on label-less for now.

 

[Paradoxum]

I think I'd be a moral realist, but I'm not sure if I am naturalist or non-naturalist. Morality comes from an objective perspective on experience. It isn't purely from experience or reason.

 

[Redac]

Can't tell if I'm a cultural relativist or just some sort of non-cognitivist.

I think I'd be a moral realist, but I'm not sure if I am naturalist or non-naturalist. Morality comes from an objective perspective on experience. It isn't purely from experience or reason.

When you say an "objective perspective" do you mean like the Ideal Observer thing?

 

[Paradoxum]

When you say an "objective perspective" do you mean like the Ideal Observer thing?

I think what I mean is similar to that.

I'm not sure if I'm a moral realist or not now, thinking about it a bit more. Morality is objective, but based on the subjective, and requires evidence to inform it.

 

[Redac]

I think what I mean is similar to that.

I'm not sure if I'm a moral realist or not now, thinking about it a bit more. Morality is objective, but based on the subjective, and requires evidence to inform it.

That seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? How can moral truths be objective and unchanging if they are based on something that is not constant?

 

[Eudaimonist]

That seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? How can moral truths be objective and unchanging if they are based on something that is not constant?

Moral realism does not have anything to do with "unchanging truths". Truths could (in principle) change daily and yet be objective as long as they are actually true at any one moment.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eudaimonist]

BTW, I find it interesting that the highest number so far in the poll is nontheist support for moral realism!


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Lord Emsworth]

I am pretty much undecided on all this.

I haven't watched the video yet; there is always other stuff in the way it seems. Maybe I should do that.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I haven't watched the video yet; there is always other stuff in the way it seems. Maybe I should do that.

The video is less than ten minutes long. I hope you get a chance.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Lord Emsworth]

The video is less than ten minutes long. I hope you get a chance.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Just did. But I still don't know where exactly I would fall into this. The thing is I see some good points in several of these positions, but I am not sure how good these points are exactly. So, undecided, I guess.