1. Emotionalism
Emotionalism
is an important stage in the development of metaethics
theory. Emotionalism holds that moral propositions are propositions that do not
contain the true or false meaning of knowledge. The function of moral language
and moral propositions is only to express emotional attitudes or arouse
emotions and stimulate actions. The development from intuitionism to
emotionalism has the logical necessity of the development of meta-ethics
theory.
Moore's intuitionism
regards "good" as an unanalyzable and undefinable
concept. When used in this way, the word does not stand for anything and
therefore has no symbolic function. When we use it in the statement "this
is good," we simply mean "this," and
the added "is good" makes no difference to what we mean. "This
is good" is only used as an emotional symbol to express our attitude
towards "this", and the function of ethical words is only to express
emotion or evoke emotion.
Among emotionalist
ethicists, Ayer and Stevenson are two of the most famous representatives.
2. Meta-ethics
Metaethics is a school and
method of ethics created by Moore, a British philosopher and ethicist in the
20th century. Metaethics is the study of the words
and concepts we use to make decisions, warn, persuade, and evaluate, the study
of moral concepts, terms, and the logical structure of the words and sentences
used to make moral judgments. We put a statement of the ethical facts, or the
code of ethics, moral principles in the social life of the argument, as the
task of normative ethics, and the discussion of moral term meaning and usage,
the analysis of moral concept, the moral logic characteristics of assertion,
the nature of moral argument or the composition of the material analysis, as
"metaethics" task.
3. Normative ethics
Normative
ethics is the study of people's moral right and wrong, good and evil norms and judgments, is the study of the ethical character of social
system and how it should be.
Normative ethics
focuses on the system of ethics. It should clarify the principles, norms and
categories of ethics, explore the historical inevitability of the emergence,
development and change of ethics, and demonstrate the structure and function of
ethics system.
4. Ethics
One of the contents of moral phenomena. It refers
to the criteria that evaluate and guide people's good and bad behavior under
certain social conditions. It refers to the good and evil, honor and disgrace,
justice and injustice of people's activities of the code of conduct, is the
summary and reflection of moral relations.
5. Moral obligation
One of the important categories of ethics. It is not
only an individual's moral responsibility to the society or to others, but also
the moral requirements of certain social or class moral principles and norms.
It also refers to a strong sense of responsibility produced by individuals when
they practice moral principles and norms.
6. Natural
obligations
It
refers to the obligation which is not necessarily related to the system or institutional
social practice. Its content is generally not determined by the rules of social
arrangement, but we have the obligation. Natural obligations are
super-historical, that is, they remain valid no matter what social system one
belongs to. There are two kinds of obligations, positive and negative.
7. Obvious
obligations
Ross,
the famous contemporary deontologist, listed six obvious obligations: (1) to be
honest, to keep promises and repay; (2) to repay with gratitude; (3) to be
just; (4) to do good to help others; (5) to develop oneself; and (6) to do no
harm to others. This last one, no harm to others, has the highest priority and
is the most coercive.
8. Conscience
Conscience
is the product of the development of human moral emotion and the result of the
development or deepening of human sense of obligation. Conscience is a kind of
moral reason with moral emotion as the keynote. It means that there is emotion
in reason and reason in emotion.
9. Moral
responsibility
From the moral awareness of the moral
obligation to others, to the society, moral mission. Moral
responsibility is essentially the inner identification of external moral
obligations.
Rules of public life
That
is, the moral code in the public sphere, which can also be called social morality.
It is the most simple and minimum standard of public life which has been
accumulated gradually for thousands of years and is necessary for the public
life of society. It is the moral minimum standard and general requirement of a
qualified member of society.
