Explain and discuss the four meta-ethic theories: Naturalism, Intuitionism, Emotivism and Prescriptivism.

Explain and discuss the four meta-ethic theories: Naturalism, Intuitionism, Emotivism and Prescriptivism.



Naturalism, Intuitionism, Emotivism and Prescriptivism all come under the heading of Meta – Ethics. Meta- Ethics is the study of the meaning of ethical statements and terms such as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. What this means is that words that are described as good are not necessarily a morally good act. If a good dog bit somebody, this act is not good because the dog is good, this act is morally bad because it is wrong to have harm inflicted upon yourself or others.

Naturalism is one of the sub-headings that come under meta-ethics. Naturalism is ‘ The idea that ethical values can be substantiated in the same way that scientific ones are’. This means that ethical terms can be defined or explained using the same ‘natural’ terms that would be used to describe science. Basically it means that a more logical way of thinking can be used to define more complicated t...