One can fear that a certain medical procedure is wrong, one can hope that one's musical composition is beautiful, one can wish that a certain action be permissible, one can intend that one's children will make the right choices, one can be horrified that someone has committed a murder[note 1], one can promise that one will gain the contract in a morally licit way, one can rejoice that the expensive painting one has commissioned is good, etc. All of these are propositional attitudes. But the objects of propositional attitudes are propositions. Hence, that a medical procedure is wrong and that one's musical composition is beautiful (and and so on) are propositions, and expressivism is false.
Showing posts with label expressivism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label expressivism. Show all posts
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday, November 25, 2011
Some problem sentences for expressivist views in ethics and aesthetics
According to expressivist views in ethics and aesthetics, sentences like "Murder is wrong" or "The Mona Lisa is beautiful" do not express a proposition, but express some kind of an attitude. I think many propositional attitudes are problematic for expressivists. Here is one that is perhaps not: "Sally thinks murder is wrong." This, the expressivist can say, is a sentence expressing the proposition that Sally has the attitude A, where A is the attitude that she would express by saying "Murder is wrong." But some are much harder:
- Sam knows that cheating on exams is wrong.
- Alex is unsure whether Picasso's cubist paintings are any good.
- The younger Augustine feared that fornication might be wrong.
- Dr. Jones hopes that her proposed experiment is morally acceptable.
- Mark hopes that the sculpture that he is working on will be beautiful.
Labels:
aesthetics,
beauty,
embedding,
ethics,
expressivism,
language,
morality,
non-realism
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