Ethical Subjectivism Theory about the nature of moral judgments, not about how we ought to live “Morality is a matter of sentiment rather than fact” Version #1: Simple Subjectivism Ethical judgments are only expressions of approval/disapproval by the speaker Problem#1: appearance of infallibility Problem#2: accounting for disagreement Version #2: Emotivism Ethical statements express –rather than report – attitudes Escapes both problems of simple subjectivism New problem: How to account for the apparent connection between moral judgments & reason! Moral truths are truths of reason Proving opinion X is correct ≠ Persuading someone to accept your proof
What is said Simple Subjectivist hears Emotivist hears	Premarital sex is immoral I do not approve of premarital sex. Yuk – premarital sex.	Charity is good I like charity Hurrah for charity
Do we have duties to others simply because they could be helped/ harmed by what we do? Psychological Egoism & Ethical Egoism (is vs. ought) Psychological Egoism: Each person is so constituted to look out only for her own interests. 1. A person cannot help but to act selfishly 2. Unselfish actions are really selfish actions Ethical Egoism: Each person ought to look out only for her own interests. EE ≠ one ought to look out for her own interests as well as those of others EE ≠ one ought to avoid actions that help others EE ≠ one ought to do whatever one wants Three arguments for the truth of Ethical Egoism 1. Altruism is self-defeating (Ignorance) 2. Altruism is incompatible with valuing the individual (Ayn Rand) 3. EE: explains and systematizes our “commonsense” intuitions about morality Three arguments against Ethical Egoism 1. EE cannot handle conflicts of interest 2. EE is logically inconsistent 3. EE is unacceptably arbitrary