Metaethics

3 units

Ethics asks questions about right and wrong, good and bad, virtue and vice. Metaethics asks questions about ethics, including questions about whether we have any reason to do the right thing or to be virtuous, questions about whether it is possible to know the answer to ethical questions, and questions about what we mean by such ethical terms as right and wrong or good and bad. Influential metaethical views include relativism (on which ethical judgments are only true or false relative to an individual or culture) and moral skepticism (on which ethical knowledge is impossible). This course will introduce metaethics through an examination of selected texts and questions. Prerequisites: One previous course in philosophy at the 300 level, graduate standing, or permission of instructor.