This course is an introduction to metaethics, the study of very foundational and general questions about morality. You have thought about metaethics if you’ve ever thought big questions not about whether it’s ok to eat meat, or to lie to your friend to save them embarrassment, but about the very idea of right and wrong, good and bad. Is there really any such thing as right or wrong? Are there facts about these things? What are they like – are they “out there” in the world? How can we find out about them? Is what’s right and wrong just relative to a time, place, or culture? And what are we doing when we think and talk about morality in the first place?
- Instructor: Matthew William Harris Simpson