Emotivism

Emotivism is a meta-ethical view that claims that ethical sentences do not express propositions but emotional attitudes.^[1]^[2]^[3] Hence, it is colloquially known as the hurrah/boo theory.^[4] Influenced by the growth of analytic philosophy and logical positivism in the 20th century, the theory was stated vividly by A. J. Ayer in his 1936 book Language, Truth and Logic,^[5] but its development owes more to C. L. Stevenson.^[6]

Emotivism can be considered a form of non-cognitivism or expressivism. It stands in opposition to other forms of non-cognitivism (such as quasi-realism^[7]^[8] and universal prescriptivism), as well as to all forms of cognitivism (including both moral realism and ethical subjectivism).^{[citation needed]}

In the 1950s, emotivism appeared in a modified form in the universal prescriptivism of R. M. Hare.^[9]^[10]

^ Garner and Rosen, Moral Philosophy, chapter 13 ("Noncognitivist Theories") and Brandt, Ethical Theory, chapter 9 ("Noncognitivism") regard the ethical theories of Ayer, Stevenson and Hare as noncognitivist ones.
^ Ogden and Richards, Meaning, 125: "'Good' is alleged to stand for a unique, unanalyzable concept … [which] is the subject matter of ethics. This peculiar ethical use of 'good' is, we suggest, a purely emotive use. … Thus, when we so use it in the sentence, 'This is good,' we merely refer to this, and the addition of "is good" makes no difference whatever to our reference … it serves only as an emotive sign expressing our attitude to this, and perhaps evoking similar attitudes in other persons, or inciting them to actions of one kind or another." This quote appears in an extended form just before the preface of Stevenson's Ethics and Language.
^ "Emotivism | philosophy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
^ Philosophy of Meaning, Knowledge and Value in the Twentieth Century: Routledge History of Philosophy. Routledge. 2012. ISBN 9781134935727.
^ Pepper, Ethics, 277: "[Emotivism] was stated in its simplest and most striking form by A. J. Ayer."
^ Brandt, Ethical Theory, 239, calls Stevenson's Ethics and Language "the most important statement of the emotive theory", and Pepper, Ethics, 288, says it "was the first really systematic development of the value judgment theory and will probably go down in the history of ethics as the most representative for this school."
^ "quasi-realism". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
^ Zangwill, Nick (1993). "Quasi-Realist Explanation". Synthese. 97 (3): 287–296. doi:10.1007/BF01064071. ISSN 0039-7857. JSTOR 20117846. S2CID 46955963.
^ Brandt, Ethical Theory, 221: "A recent book [The Language of Morals] by R. M. Hare has proposed a view, otherwise very similar to the emotive theory, with modifications …"
^ Wilks, Emotion, 79: "… while Hare was, no doubt, a critic of the [emotive theory], he was, in the eyes of his own critics, a kind of emotivist himself. His theory, as a consequence, has sometimes been depicted as a reaction against emotivism and at other times as an extension of it."

[1] Garner and Rosen, Moral Philosophy, chapter 13 ("Noncognitivist Theories") and Brandt, Ethical Theory, chapter 9 ("Noncognitivism") regard the ethical theories of Ayer, Stevenson and Hare as noncognitivist ones.

[2] Ogden and Richards, Meaning, 125: "'Good' is alleged to stand for a unique, unanalyzable concept … [which] is the subject matter of ethics. This peculiar ethical use of 'good' is, we suggest, a purely emotive use. … Thus, when we so use it in the sentence, 'This is good,' we merely refer to this, and the addition of "is good" makes no difference whatever to our reference … it serves only as an emotive sign expressing our attitude to this, and perhaps evoking similar attitudes in other persons, or inciting them to actions of one kind or another." This quote appears in an extended form just before the preface of Stevenson's Ethics and Language.

[3] "Emotivism | philosophy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-28.

[4] Philosophy of Meaning, Knowledge and Value in the Twentieth Century: Routledge History of Philosophy. Routledge. 2012. ISBN 9781134935727.

[5] Pepper, Ethics, 277: "[Emotivism] was stated in its simplest and most striking form by A. J. Ayer."

[6] Brandt, Ethical Theory, 239, calls Stevenson's Ethics and Language "the most important statement of the emotive theory", and Pepper, Ethics, 288, says it "was the first really systematic development of the value judgment theory and will probably go down in the history of ethics as the most representative for this school."

[7] "quasi-realism". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2020-05-28.

[8] Zangwill, Nick (1993). "Quasi-Realist Explanation". Synthese. 97 (3): 287–296. doi:10.1007/BF01064071. ISSN 0039-7857. JSTOR 20117846. S2CID 46955963.

[9] Brandt, Ethical Theory, 221: "A recent book [The Language of Morals] by R. M. Hare has proposed a view, otherwise very similar to the emotive theory, with modifications …"

[10] Wilks, Emotion, 79: "… while Hare was, no doubt, a critic of the [emotive theory], he was, in the eyes of his own critics, a kind of emotivist himself. His theory, as a consequence, has sometimes been depicted as a reaction against emotivism and at other times as an extension of it."

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