Single Idea 23726

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism]

Full Idea

Although Moore was reluctant to adopt it, the epistemology the non-naturalists tended to favour was intuitionism.

Gist of Idea

Despite Moore's caution, non-naturalists incline towards intuitionism

Source

report of G.E. Moore (Principia Ethica [1903]) by Michael Smith - The Moral Problem 2.2

Book Reference

Smith,Michael: 'The Moral Problem' [Blackwell 1994], p.19


A Reaction

Moore was presumably reluctant because intuitionism had been heavily criticised in the past for its inability to settle moral disputes. But if you insist that goodness is outside nature, what other means of knowing it is available? Reason?