Meta-Ethics (MSc) (P02024)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : PPL-P-META-E-PH

The course will examine a cluster of issues to do with ethics and indeterminacy or truth value gaps. It is often said that there are such things as incommensurable goods, and that ethical theory contains lots of topics in which vagueness is rife. The course will look at a range of topics concerning this. Here are five. The first is about various sorts of moral realisms and the possibility of ethical indeterminacy; what exactly is the interrelation between these topics? For example, is ethical indeterminacy inconsistent with certain forms of moral realism? Is there any relation between the extent of indeterminacy and the plausibility of noncognitivism? This bit of the course will look at larger issues about vagueness and realism in general. The second is about the semantics of indeterminacy. If there is indeterminacy in some loose form, what exactly should the semantic model of this be? Supposing cognitivism as the background, are some sentences about what we ought to do determinately neither true nor false, indeterminate, or what? This bit of the course will look at various ways of handling indeterminacy and truth value gaps that crop up in other areas, for example superevaluation, truth value gaps, and many valued logics. The third is a more focussed semantic issue: what does it mean to say that there are, for example, incommensurable goods; how does the possibility of indeterminacy fit with various accounts of the semantics of "is good" and cognates? The fourth has to do with ethical theory proper. Is there a precise way of characterizing an ethical theory which admits indeterminacy? This part of the course will focus especially on various normative pathologies that indeterminacy seems to generate. It will also ask whether and how theories like utilitarianism can be understood if there are such things as incommensurable goods, or limitations on interpersonal and intrapersonal comparisons.

Shared with UG Course PP0092 Meta-Ethics.

Venue: G8, 1 George Square

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Philosophy 2A (PP0033) or Philosophy 2B (PP0034)

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Philosophy, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
09/01/2008	09:00	11:00	Room G.8, 1 George Square (Neuroscience)	Med+Vet

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Wednesday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

A thorough understanding of the most important positions in contemporary meta-ethics, some of which students will have encountered in less depth in previous courses, others of which will be new to students; an enhancement of philosophical skills, through pursuing contemporary questions at an advanced level; a furthering of communications skills, through presentations and constructive argument in a seminar setting.