Emotivism holds that objective moral laws do not exist. Moral terms express the speaker's emotional attitude rather than stating a fact.

Who was A. J. Ayer, and where did he set out emotivism?

A. J. Ayer was a British logical positivist. Language, Truth and Logic, published in 1936, sets out his emotivism.

What is the verification principle?

The verification principle holds that a statement is meaningful only if it is analytic or empirically verifiable. Ayer applied it to ethical language.

Why does Ayer conclude that ethical statements are neither analytic nor verifiable?

An ethical statement is not true by definition, and no observation confirms or refutes it. On the verification principle it therefore states nothing.

Eduqas A-Level Religious Studies A120QS

Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsChristianity

Topic overview The birth narratives and the doctrine of the incarnation The resurrection, the resurrected body and the afterlife The Bible as a guide to daily living The biblical canon and theories of inspiration The kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on the historical Jesus

Christianity: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeChristianity

Topic overview God as father and mother, and the suffering of God The Trinity and the filioque controversy Theories of the Atonement Justification by faith and works The community of believers and the role of the Church Key moral principles in Christianity

Christianity: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtChristianity

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Christian migration and reverse mission in the UK Feminist theology and the ordination of women Secularisation and Christianity in the UK Dawkins, McGrath and the challenge from science Exclusivism, inclusivism and religious pluralism

Christianity: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityChristianity

Topic overview Infant baptism and believer's baptism Eucharistic theology and practice Christmas and Easter in the Eastern and Western churches The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement Liberation theology in South America

Islam: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsIslam

Topic overview Jahiliyya and the Night of Power The Hijrah and Muhammad's leadership in Madinah The Qur'an as the final revelation Sunna, hadith, qiyas and ijma Shari'a, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad

Islam: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeIslam

Topic overview Tawhid and the shahādah Nabi, rasul and risalah Malaikah and Akhirah Ṣalāh and the forms of Muslim prayer Zakāh, giving and the ḥajj The five categories of ethical action

Islam: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtIslam

Topic overview The Constitution of Madinah and the Islamic state Islam and scientific accounts of the universe Islamic attitudes to pluralism and conversion Family life and Muslim feminism Muslims in Britain and the Muslim Council of Britain Islamophobia and Western perceptions of Islam

Islam: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityIslam

Topic overview The role of the masjid Ashura and Shi'a devotion Ramadan and Id-ul-Fitr Shi'a Islam and the succession to Muhammad Sufi thought and devotional practice Crime and punishment in Islamic ethics

Judaism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsJudaism

Topic overview Abraham and the covenant of circumcision Moses and the covenant of law at Sinai The Torah: authority, study and treatment The Talmud, the Mishnah and the Gemara Midrash, halakhah and aggadah Rashi and Maimonides on scripture

Judaism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeJudaism

Topic overview The nature and attributes of God Humanity, nefesh and pikuach nefesh The Shema and the purpose of life The Messiah, judgement and olam ha-ba Tefillah, the Amidah and tzedakah The 613 mitzvot and the Ten Sayings

Judaism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtJudaism

Topic overview Zionism and the state of Israel Judaism and the challenge of science Reform Judaism, the Pittsburgh Platform and pluralism Jewish family life and gender equality Jews as a religious and ethnic minority in Britain Holocaust theology

Judaism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityJudaism

Topic overview The synagogue and its roles Pesach and the seder Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Hasidic Judaism Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism Judaism and embryo research

Buddhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsBuddhism

Topic overview The birth narratives and the Four Sights The Awakening under the Bodhi tree The Pāṭimokkha and the monastic rules The Pāli Canon and the Tipiṭaka The Heart Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddhism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeBuddhism

Topic overview The three marks of existence Dependent origination, kamma and rebirth The arahant and the bodhisattva The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path and the Threefold Training The precepts and the lay and monastic sangha

Buddhism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtBuddhism

Topic overview Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren in Japan Buddhism and the challenge of science Is Buddhism a religion? Batchelor and Brazier Buddhism, pluralism and the Kālāma Sutta Buddhism in Britain: heritage and convert Women, gender and feminism in Buddhism

Buddhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityBuddhism

Topic overview Going for refuge in the Buddha, dhamma and sangha Samatha, vipassanā, mettā bhāvanā and zazen Dāna and puñña: giving and merit Tibetan practice: mudrā, maṇḍala and mantra The contemporary Mindfulness Movement Socially Engaged Buddhism

Hinduism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsHinduism

Topic overview Indus Valley origins and the Aryan debate Krishna, Arjuna and the paths to liberation Shruti, smriti and the epics as sources of authority The Upanishads and the Katha dialogue with Yama Gandhi, satyagraha and self-rule for India Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and neo-Vedanta

Hinduism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeHinduism

Topic overview Brahman and atman: monism, dualism and the Vedanta schools The Trimurti, cyclical time, Vaishnavism and Shaivism Karma, samsara and the goal of moksha Varnashramadharma: the four varnas and four ashramas The status of the Dalits: Gandhi, Ambedkar and after Ahimsa from Jain roots to Gandhi's satyagraha

Hinduism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtHinduism

Topic overview ISKCON, Prabhupada and Krishna consciousness Hinduism, science and the challenge of secularisation The four purusharthas, wealth and poverty Diversity, pluralism and Hindu attitudes to other faiths Hindu identity and migration to Britain Changing roles of men and women in Hinduism

Hinduism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityHinduism

Topic overview Puja in the home and in the mandir Holi: Holika, Prahlada and the play of Krishna Durga Puja, Navaratri and the Goddess The bhakti movement and pilgrimage Samkhya, Patanjali's yoga and Advaita Vedanta Hindu bioethics: infertility and assisted reproduction

Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

Topic overview Guru Nanak's background and the influences on his teaching Guru Nanak's revelation, teachings and the community at Kartarpur Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa The Guru Granth Sahib as living Guru The Mul Mantar and the Japji Sahib Guru Arjan and the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Sikhism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeSikhism

Topic overview The Sikh concept of God: Ik Onkar, nirguna and saguna The soul, the five khands and union with Vahiguru Karma, rebirth, grace and mukti Seva and Sarbat da bhala Kirat Karo, Naam Japo and Vand Chhako Sant Sipahi and Dharam Yudh

Sikhism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtSikhism

Topic overview Khalistan, persecution and the politics of the Punjab Equality of men and women in Sikhism Sikh attitudes to other faiths and interfaith dialogue Sikhism, science and secularisation Origins and development of the Sikh community in Britain Miri and piri, the kirpan and defending the oppressed

Sikhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentitySikhism

Topic overview The gurdwara, langar and Sikh worship Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas Vaisakhi and the birth of the Khalsa The Rahit Maryada and the rahit-namas Naam Japo, the names of God and the stages of liberation Sikh bioethics: infertility and assisted reproduction

Arguments for the Existence of God: Inductive

Topic overview Inductive proofs and Aquinas's first three ways The Kalam cosmological argument and William Lane Craig Design arguments: Aquinas, Paley and Tennant Hume's challenges and scientific alternatives

Arguments for the Existence of God: Deductive

Topic overview Deductive proofs and Anselm's greatest possible being Necessary existence in Anselm and Norman Malcolm Descartes's supremely perfect being Gaunilo, Kant and challenges to the ontological argument

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview Moral and natural evil and the classical problem Mackie's inconsistent triad and the evidential problem Augustine's theodicy: privation, the fall and the Cross Hick's soul-making theodicy and its critics

Religious Belief as a Product of the Human Mind

Topic overview Freud on religion as illusion and neurosis Freud's primal horde and the challenges to Freud Jung on the collective unconscious and individuation Atheism, agnosticism and the New Atheism

Religious Experience

Topic overview Visions and religious conversion Mysticism, Teresa of Avila and the stages of prayer William James's four marks and Otto's numinous Challenges to the authenticity of religious experience The value of religious experience for the individual and the community Defining miracles and the Hume–Swinburne debate

Religious Language

Topic overview The inherent problems of religious language Logical Positivism and the verification principle Falsification: Flew, Hare, Mitchell and Swinburne Analogy and symbol: Aquinas, Ramsey, Randall and Tillich Religious language as myth Religious language as a language game

Ethical Thought

Topic overview Divine command theory and the Euthyphro dilemma Virtue theory: Aristotle and the Beatitudes Ethical egoism and the union of egoists Meta-ethical naturalism and its critics Intuitionism and H. A. Prichard Emotivism and A. J. Ayer

Deontological Ethics

Topic overview Aquinas's four levels of law and the primary precepts Virtues, goods and the moral act in Aquinas Natural law applied: abortion and voluntary euthanasia Finnis, the basic goods and practical reasonableness Hoose and the proportionalist debate Finnis and proportionalism applied: immigration and capital punishment

Teleological Ethics

Topic overview Fletcher's rejection of legalism and antinomianism The working principles and the six propositions Situation ethics applied: homosexual and polyamorous relationships Bentham, utility and the hedonic calculus Mill: higher pleasures, the harm principle and rules Utilitarianism applied: animal experimentation and nuclear deterrence

Determinism

Topic overview Augustine on original sin, concupiscence and grace Calvin on election, reprobation and irresistible grace Hard and soft determinism The implications of determinism and predestination

Free Will

Topic overview Pelagius on original sin and human responsibility Arminius, prevenient grace and conditional election Libertarianism: Sartre, Sirigu and Rogers The implications of free will

Ethical Thought

Emotivism and A. J. Ayer

3 things to know
Component 3

Overview

Verification principle and objection that emotivism establishes no basic moral principles.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Define emotivism.

Key term

Why is emotivism a non-cognitivist theory?

Key term

Why is emotivism nicknamed the boo-hurrah theory?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Define emotivism.
Model answer
Emotivism holds that objective moral laws do not exist. Moral terms express the speaker's emotional attitude rather than stating a fact.
2
Why is emotivism a non-cognitivist theory?
Model answer
Moral utterances are not beliefs and are not candidates for truth or falsity. The world contains nothing that makes them correct or incorrect.
3
Why is emotivism nicknamed the boo-hurrah theory?
Model answer
Saying an act is wrong amounts to saying boo to it, and saying an act is right amounts to saying hurrah. C. L. Stevenson developed the account further.
4
Who was A. J. Ayer, and where did he set out emotivism?
Model answer
A. J. Ayer was a British logical positivist. Language, Truth and Logic, published in 1936, sets out his emotivism.
5
What is the verification principle?
Model answer
The verification principle holds that a statement is meaningful only if it is analytic or empirically verifiable. Ayer applied it to ethical language.
6
Why does Ayer conclude that ethical statements are neither analytic nor verifiable?
Model answer
An ethical statement is not true by definition, and no observation confirms or refutes it. On the verification principle it therefore states nothing.

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