Ethical subjectivism

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Ethical subjectivism is the meta-ethical view which claims that:

1. Ethical sentences express propositions.
2. Some such propositions are true.
3. Those propositions are about the attitudes of people.^[1]

This makes ethical subjectivism a form of cognitivism. Ethical subjectivism stands in opposition to moral realism, which claims that moral propositions refer to objective facts, independent of human opinion; to error theory, which denies that any moral propositions are true in any sense; and to non-cognitivism, which denies that moral sentences express propositions at all.

The most common forms of ethical subjectivism are also forms of moral relativism; however there are also universalist forms of subjectivism such as ideal observer theory and divine command theory. Ethical subjectivism also includes, and sometimes refers specifically to, individualist ethical subjectivism.^[2]

Ethical subjectivism is compatible with moral absolutism, in that an individual can hold certain of his moral precepts to apply regardless of circumstances.^[3] Ethical subjectivism is also compatible with moral relativism when that is taken to mean the opposite of absolutism, that is, as the claim that moral precepts should be adjusted to circumstances.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ Brandt 1959, p. 153: "[Objectivism and subjectivism] have been used more vaguely, confusedly, and in more different senses than the others we are considering. We suggest as a convenient usage, however, that a theory be called subjectivist if and only if, according to it, any ethical assertion implies that somebody does, or somebody of a certain sort under certain conditions would, take some specified attitude toward something."
2. ^ "moral subjectivism is that species of moral relativism that relativizes moral value to the individual subject". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
3. ^ That is a moral precept can be relative to an individual, but not relative to circumstances
4. ^ Brandt 1959, p. 154: "A subjectivist, clearly, can be either an absolutist or a relativist."

References

• Brandt, Richard (1959). Ethical Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. LCCN 59-075. 

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