Which of these normative ethical theories is most popular on Manifold?
13
315Ṁ323
resolved Oct 22
100%89%
Consequentialism
6%
Deontology
5%
Virtue ethics

My Manifold survey has a question asking which meta-ethical theories the respondent agrees with. Three of them are:

  • Consequentialism (Moral behavior is that with the best expected consequences. This can also include forms of rule utilitarianism where the consequences of following a rule, even when it has bad consequences in some situations, are better than deciding on a case-by-case basis.)

  • Deontology (Morality is based on following certain duties/rules that determine whether an action is right or wrong regardless of the consequences.)

  • Virtue ethics (Morality is based on behaving in a way that embodies certain virtues, not the consequences or intrinsic rightness/wrongness of actions.)

Which of these options will be selected by the most users?

See Plasma's Manifold Survey for other questions about the survey.

You can take the survey here: https://forms.gle/xZqWVxuY5irgLigu9

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These are not metaethical theories.

@NicoDelon What term would you prefer I use? These are all theories about what makes something good or bad, which seems like meta-ethics to me.

@JosephNoonan These are normative ethical theories (about what is substantively right/wrong, good/bad etc.), whereas metaethical theories would be about the nature of right/wrong, good/bad etc. (e.g. does 'x is right' have a truth value or express a non-propositional attitude', is 'x is right' true or false objectively or only relative to particular standards).

@DavidMoss Okay, I agree this is a better title. It's still called meta-ethics on the survey because it also includes views about whether morality is objective, whether ethical views are propositions, etc., and because I think any complete meta-ethical theory is also a normative one (If you have a complete description of the nature of right and wrong, that's going to trivially entail a theory of what makes an action right or wrong).

@JosephNoonan I don’t think it’s trivial at all and that’s why professional metaethicists don’t claim to be doing normative ethics and vice versa.

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