On The Need For Normative Ethics: A Study Of Subjectivist Thought

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On the Need for Normative Ethics:
A study of Subjectivist thought

Foremost is a brief description of Subjectivism, particularly Emotivism.
Subjectivist thought rests on the idea that morality is a function of one's individual emotions, and that is all. The strength of Emotivism over other avenues of Subjectivism lies in its awareness of the other purposes of language. Rather than statements designed to convey information, Emotivism relies on utterances that can be deemed neither true nor false. Moral judgments are interpreted as either commands (seen as an attempt to influence conduct rather than state fact) or exclamations (used, not to state one's opinion or report of one's feelings on a particular matter, but only to express some attitude irrelative of whether one actually possesses the attitude).
As a result, the emotivist argument transcends the main objections to the earlier Simple Subjectivism. It circumvents the premiss that, "If Subjectivism is correct, than each of us is infallible in our moral judgments". (Rachels p.40) By choosing to interpret moral judgments as commands and/or expressions of some attitude, the theory thereby eliminates their qualification as true or false. The question of fallibility, then, is quashed.
The second of the previous objections overcome by the emotivist conception is the allowance for moral disagreement. The slight alteration in the perception of how moral judgments are to be defined highlights the idea that, while individuals may wholly agree as to the relative truth of any pertinent facts (even agreeing as to what each other's feelings are on the matter), they may each desire different and irreconcilable ends.
Emotivism, by way of linguistic gymnastics, eliminates the most obvious flaws of the earlier simple argument. Its proponents still ascribe to the same fundamental ideal of the Subjectivist that 'morality' is, as Hume implied, "…the object of feeling, not reason", and that it is a notion belonging solely to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought.
…
This conviction leaves no real platform for why one 'ought' to do or believe any one thing over another. Individuals need only ask themselves what their 'attitude' is on a pa...

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...hese theories appeal to the instincts of common sense that point to the existence of a definite code of conduct. The doctrine of moral realism submits that there are, in fact, universal moral Facts, recognizable by a combination of intellect and emotion. Michael Smith purports to alter the standard psychological picture to include action-inducing reasons. He suggests that properly informed individuals under certain controlled conditions may experience a future convergence of moral beliefs. (pp. 170-176) It is proposed that, through moral argument and the contemplation of various normative theories, humanity moves closer to this convergence and, therefore, to the truly 'correct' principles. When complete convergence has been attained, all relativity in moral judgment will have been eliminated. It is contended that the practice might, at long last, provide the missing proof. The idea that moral judgments are wholly subjective and devoid of absolute truth may, then, have to be replaced as devoted moralists continue to search for the 'correct' system of ethics.

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