10 THINGS ABOUT EMOTIVISM IN ETHICS

Submitted by admin on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 09:25
 
1. EMOTIVISM IN ETHICS is the ‘improved version’ of Simple Subjectivism.The following are some of its explanations and claims.
  
2. It was developed chiefly by the American philosopher Charles L. Stevenson (1909-1979) and was influential in the 20th century.

3. Emotivism explains, and it is correct at that, that language has other uses aside from stating facts, conveying information, or saying something that is either true or false (e.g. “The sun is a star.”)

4. A command (e.g. “Open the door”), for instance, is neither true nor false. Its purpose is not to convey information or alter one’s beliefs but to get one to do something or influence his conduct.

5. Emotivism differentiates reporting an attitude (e.g. “I like Hitler”) and expressing the same attitude (“Hurrah for Hitler!”).  The former is either true or false unlike the former which just expresses an attitude, but does not even report that someone has it.

6. According to Emotivism, moral language “is notfact-stating language; it is not typically used to convey information.”

7. “Moral language is used, first, as a means of influencing people’s behavior. “You ought not to do that” is treated like a command “Don’t do that!”

8. Second, moral language is used “to express (not report) one’s attitude.” Saying “Gautama was a good man” is not like saying “I approve of Gautama,” but it is like saying “Hurrah for Gautama!”

9. While Simple Subjectivism interprets ethical sentences as statements of fact—as reports of the speaker’s attitude—Emotivism maintains that these propositions do not state any fact at all, even a fact about the speaker.

10. “Homosexuality is immoral,” in Simple Subjectivism, means the same as “I (the speaker) disapprove of homosexuality”. In Emotivism, it is equivalent to something such as “Homosexuality—yecch!” or “Do not engage in homosexual acts!”
           
Analysis of the claims and assumptions of Emotivism is tackled in the article/s “Subjectivism: Another Challenge in Ethics” (which can be found by searching the title through www.OurHappySchool.com’s own search engine).
 
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“Notes in Ethics:10 THINGS ABOUT EMOTIVISM IN ETHICS” @ www.OurHappySchool.com
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