Phil 101

Social morality and the justification questions (strawson)

A. The ‘ realm of the ethical’

-individual ideals

- visions of the good life or what makes life worth living and valuable, whatever projects we deem worthy to command our efforts of pursuit

- different to each person, what’s important to each person is based on hobbies etc.

- test? Is it really important to me?

B. The ‘realm of the moral’

-rules that require or prohibit action and so ground moral imperatives that we direct to each other to do, refrain from doing, various things

-these rules have to apply to everyone in the society, like a “law”, so it’s difficult to enter this realm of moral

-posits a relationship between, on the one hand, individual ideals, values, and interests and, on the other hand, social rules that structure the interaction of individuals whose lives are planned around the pursuit

C. Positive morality vs. “true” morality

* within realm of the moral

* how we do things around here vs. how they should be done

* to be a “true” morality, it needs to be a positive morality

* for example, enforcing slavery was not a positive morality

* A ‘true’ morality must also be a positive (existing) morality, but not all positive moralities qualify as “true”.

* Questions to ask. Is that rule justified or legit?

D. Normativity

* moral judgments are essentially normative in the sense that they are made with an eye towards guiding action

* Compare:

* -The food options on campus are bad

* post 1984 metallica is bad

* immigration restrictions are bad: This is the moral judgment

E. Generic normativity

-An area of discourse has when it essentially evaluative or prescriptive; example: good, bad,

-found in morality, but also claims of gastronomy, aesthetics, prudence, etiquette, etc

F. Authoritative normativity

-provides, stronger, weightier, higher ranked reasons for acting

-practical clout, oomph, inescapability

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