Required Reading
A. J. Ayer, "A Critique of Ethics," in 20th Century Ethical Theory, eds. Steven M. Cahn and Joram G. Haber (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995), pp. 108-115.
C. L. Stevenson, "The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms," in 20th Century Ethical Theory, eds. Steven M. Cahn and Joram G. Haber (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995), pp. 116-128.
Suggested Reading
A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1952).
______, Part of my life: The Memoirs of a Philosopher (New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Javonovich, 1977).
______, More of my life (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1985).
Brand Blanshard, "The New Subjectivism in Ethics," in 20th Century Ethical Theory, eds. Steven M. Cahn and Joram G. Haber (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995), pp. 183-188.
R. M. Hare, "A Moral Argument," in 20th Century Ethical Theory, eds. Steven M. Cahn and Joram G. Haber (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995), pp. 386-399.
C. L. Stevenson, "The Nature of Ethical Disagreement," in 20th Century Ethical Theory, eds. Steven M. Cahn and Joram G. Haber (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995), pp. 139-144.
Study Questions
1. What is the distinction between descriptive meaning and emotive meaning?
2. Explain the two major objections against intuitionism and how emotivism attempted to address these issues.
3. Charles Stevenson says of the account of the meaning of good given by G. E. Moore that non-natural properties are simply the shadow cast by emotive meaning. What might he mean by that? Do you think it is a fair comment on Moore's view?
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