Extract of Teachers’ Notes – Ethical Theory I
Meta Ethics
Introduction
For students to `get` meta ethics, it is important that they first see how it’s not the
same as normative ethics.
Normative ethics are moral theories that argue that a particular kind of
behaviour should be a `norm` for people to follow. If you’re a utilitarian, wanting as
many people as possible to be happy would be your ‘normative’ goal. Meta ethics is
different. It doesn’t really care about actions or results. Instead, it is interested in the
language used; the language of normative ethics.
You can think of it as a cloud sitting above the various theories. The words
used by those theories have to pass through the cloud which colours them; so that,
when those words are actually used by people down on the earth, they can see the
colour of what they are saying.
Our Meta Ethics film is packed with content. You might like to break it down into
sections. These notes provide activities for each section.
Time-code: Start 00:00 - 6.18 (Opening to Intuitionism and GE Moore)
1. Ask students to classify the following statements into lists - Fact and Idea –
and then add a couple of their own. Discuss any problematic ones. Are
some statements more difficult than others to classify?
The day is warm
His shoes are shiny
His shoes are too shiny
The dog is fat
The man is good
You ought to do your essay
2. Summarise the different positions of the two men talking about the dog. At
first glance, which do you agree with? Do either of the men give evidence to
support their claim?
3. Rearrange the words to complete Moore’s statement
Get is an can’t you ought from an
4. What is a predicate?
A) A describing word basically similar to an adjective like ‘large’ or ‘pretty’.
B) A large animal that preys on others C) A word that says the same
thing – in a different way - as another word in the sentence
5. i) Are bachelors unmarried men? ii) Is Jason a bachelor? iii) Is my
mother’s sister cross? iv) Is my aunt my mother’s sister?
a) Which of these sentences contain a predicate? b) Which asks an open
question and which a closed? c) What does this tell you about closed
questions?
6. In pairs – one student has a picture and has to describe the object by
breaking it down until the other person can guess it (NB – this isn’t the same
as guessing it through context or likening it to something else. The different
parts of the thing when put together should describe it in such a way that it can’t
be anything else)
7. What is “a fallacy”? – a mistake, a medical term, or something to do with
autumn?
©Ethics Online 2015