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Philosophy Political Thought Term Paper

Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of Moral Knowledge This paper summarises the philosophical arguments for the existence of moral knowledge, supported by the evidence for the external world contained in the article "Proof of the Objectivity of Morals" by Renford Bambrough. Bibliography cites one reference.

The arguments for the existence of moral knowledge

The idea behind the article "A Proof of the Objectivity of Morals" by Renford Bambrough has a thesis that we have moral knowledge. This is a controversial assertion, and is one that is not accepted by many philosophers.

The article start with consideration of two of Moores, arguments, that regarding the defence of common sense as well as the way in which the external world is proven. There is evidence to support the propositions made, as in any attempt to disprove knowledge that another believes they have, such as the belief an individual has two hands, then it is the contradiction that must be seen as erroneous, as they must be making the statement as a result of false argument or mistaken reasoning. Therefore, if we have knowledge then there is a self evident proof of the existence of moral knowledge (Bambrough, 1969).

The interesting factor here is that there is a focus on the knowledge rather than the language which is used to express the knowledge. Bambrough argues that if a linguistic philosopher entered this discussion they would then argue that Moore used the term 'know;' in an unusual way (Bambrough, 1969).

If we look to the way the argument regarding moral knowledge is see it is...

Bambrough argument is that by default, if there is an external world, and we accept this proof, then there must be moral knowledge provable by parity of reasoning (Bambrough, 1969).
The example in the paper is that we know is a child is to undergo surgery that we should give an anaesthetic first otherwise the surgery will be painful, this means that we have a proposition that is true, and furthermore, Bambrough argues, one that could not be argued against with any reasoning that would appear to be credible (Bambrough, 1969).

With this proof of the external world, by using the belief that the hands exist, Moore is also maintaining the belief in commonsense. Thos that argue against moral knowledge do not accept the argument of commonsense when it comes to moral, only applying it to the physical world. Furthermore, there is no logical explanation give to depart from the use of commonsense when it comes to morals (Bambrough, 1969).

The reverse for some philosophers had also be true, to reject the proof of the external world, but accept the moral argument, If we use the same arguments that they support each other, then this is in an equal self contradictory position (Bambrough, 1969).

Bambrough looks at the different arguments for…

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Bambrough also consider the argument that objectivity leads to authoritarianism that is used by Nowell-Smith. However, we also see that this is dismissed as there is a confusion of the argument, objectivism is used as an argument against moral propositions. This argument also requires there t be an acceptance of cause and effect, which is not required in the formation of moral knowledge (Bambrough, 1969).

Therefore, when looking at this the basic premise of the paper must be the way in which by accepting the evidence of the external world and the premises on which this acceptance is based were must also be accepting the arguments for moral knowledge, as they are based on the same premises, and top deny one, would lead to the logical denial of the other.

Bambrough, R (1969) A proof of the objectivity of Morals American Journal of Jurisprudence 14 37-53
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