“Everyone knows what good means” Discuss (meta ethics)

Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that aims to determine the usefulness of ethical language.

Cognitivists believe that ethical language is meaningful, thus implying that everyone should know what good is. Non-cognitivists believe that ethical language is subjective, thus meaning that not everyone can know what good is.

Naturalism, or ethical naturalism is the cognitivist theory that ethical statements (non-factual statements) can be verified at the same level as non-ethical statements (fact). For example, Hitler was the leader of the Nazis (verifiable fact) and Hitler was a bad man (opinion) are seen as on the same level as truth as each other in the eyes of ethical naturalists. Through this thinking, everyone should inherently know what good is via Naturalism. F.H Bradley added to this theory of ethical naturalism with the assertion that from learning our place in society, we can know what good is.

However, David Hume criticised ethical naturalism by claiming that you cannot deduce an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’ as naturalism does when stating what is right or wrong by looking at examples from the natural world. He argued that this was a display of subjectivity, not fact, and that we cannot depend on our senses alone for dependable evidence. He argued that ‘good’ was also a subjective concept to the human mind, as displayed by murderers when they think it is ‘good’ to kill someone, which is contrary to the popular belief of ‘good,’ but equally valid according to naturalism, which Hume viewed as dangerous and wrong.

 Prescriptivism, proposed by RM Hare is also a non-cognitive theory. Hare argued that when we use ethical language, we are prescribing-or recommending-a course of action. ‘Good’, Hare argued, is an ‘action statement’. The prescribed courses of action must be universal. Whenever we say something like ‘stealing is wrong’, we are stating that nobody should steal, and universalising that statement. In essence, when you make an ethical statement you are simply prescribing/ advising what people should do e.g. murder is wrong means ‘I would not murder so neither should you’. People do not actually know what is good as they are being advised by others, therefore good is subjective.

In conclusion, there are many different interpretations of what constitutes ‘good’ and everyone seems to have an idea of what this is. Ultimately, they are influenced by factors such as culture and upbringing, as nobody can definitively state what good is; although we have some idea what is legally or culturally right or wrong, good or bad, we cannot assert that this is a Universal truth.