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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

"Ethics and Language" by Charles Leslie Stevenson,1944


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Ethical disagreements usually involve both
disagreement in belief and
disagreement in attitude,
but disagreement in attitude is the distinctive element in ethical disputes.
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The judgment "This is good" usually functions both as the expression of an attitude and as an injunction ; it is roughly equivalent to,
"I approve of this ; do so as well".
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Ethical judgments are justified by the submission of reasons for acting ;
if the reasons do not appeal to the persons to whom they are addressed,
and if there is no disagreement in belief,nothing can be done by the use of reasons.
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No one explanation of the function of such a word as "good" is possible ;
emotive meanings are not so much defined as characterized,
and they vary according to the context.
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"This is good",according to a second pattern of analysis.
means that the object has a particular set of qualities or relations in virtue of which the speaker approves of the object ;
the hearer tends to be encouraged to approve also.
-Such a definition is normally persuasive ;
it alters descriptive meanings in order to redirect attitudes-.
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