Postgraduate Course: Meta-Ethics (MSc) (PHIL11043)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The philosophical study of ethics can be divided into three main areas: normative ethics, practical ethics, and metaethics. Normative ethics seeks general accounts of right/wrong and good/bad; practical ethics seeks to answer specific practical questions from an ethical point of view. By contrast, metaethics prescinds from these first-order questions to ask second-order questions about the 'status of morality'. Core issues in metaethics arise in each of the following areas as applied to morality: (a) metaphysics, (b) epistemology, (c) the philosophy of language, and (d) the philosophy of mind. In this course, we consider several traditional metaethical theories, including nonnaturalism, the error-theory, fictionalism, expressivism, and naturalism. We will also consider more contemporary theories that don't fit well into the more traditional categories. These include so-called 'hybrid theories,' constructivist theories, and pragmatist theories. |
| Course description |
Seminar schedule
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Conceptual Toolkit
Week 3: Nonnaturalism
Week 4: Expressivism
Week 5: Naturalism 1
Week 6: Naturalism 2
Week 7: Error Theory and Fictionalism
Week 8: Theoretical C/B Analysis
Week 9: Theories That Don't Fit 1
Week 10: Theories That Don't Fit 2
Week 11: Conclusion
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand the most important positions in contemporary meta-ethics
- enhance their philosophical skills, through pursuing contemporary questions at an advanced level
- further their communications skills, through presentations and constructive argument in a seminar setting
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Reading List
| Chrisman, M 'What Is This Thing Called Metaethics' 2016 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research, critical analysis, argumentation skills (written and oral).
Critical reading skills |
| Keywords | Metaethics,Moral Realism,Moral Anti-realism,non naturalism,naturalism,error theory |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Michael Ridge
Tel: (0131 6)50 3657
Email: M.Ridge@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Becky Verdon
Tel: (0131 6)50 3860
Email: Rebecca.Verdon@ed.ac.uk |
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