Key Thinkers
British philosopher, who argued that ethics should be approached in a utilitarian way
Who is John Stuart Mill?
The most common projection of maps, but which has significant flaws in providing us with an accurate knowledge about the world.
What is a Mercator projection?
A tyoe of over-technical and spurious language used by those who are trying deliberately to present invalid scientific evidence of theories
What is neuro-bunk?
Argued that what was missing in American (and world) politics was empathy, and coined the term 'empathy deficit' for the many problems this caused in our approach to ethical knowledge.
Who is Barack Obama?
Knowledge about the world that is "highly structured" and "systematic", and which has been produced by more than one person.
What is shared knowledge?
Knowledge about the world that is based on our own experiences, and may be unique to us
What is personal knowledge?
Believes that empathy often leads us astray in formulating ethical decisions, linking it to ineffective 'warm glow altruism'
Who is Paul Bloom?
The name given to 'disciplines' that claim to use scientific methods to produce knowledge, but are actually based on the scientific method.
What is Pseudoscience?
An ethical outlook that is the opposite of absolutism, holding that the morality of actions and decisions depend on the culture, time, and situation in which they are made.
What is moral relativism?
His ideas on how historical knowledge is constructed- for example, history being "written by the victors"
Who is Winston Churchill?
An ethical outlook that is the opposite of moral relativism, and holds that actions and decisions have an inherent 'rightness' and 'wrongness' regardless of content or outcome
What is absolutism?
A 'harder form of linguistic relativism, that holds that the language we speak determines how we think
What is linguistic detrminism?
He believes that humans have a inbuilt "language acquisition device that helps us to learn the grammar of languages
Who is Noam Chomsky?
Named after two men, this idea holds that the language we speak shapes the way we understand the world. Also called linguistic relativism
What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?
Taking this approach to language means that you believe there is a proper way of using language- and dictionaries are the authorities in determining this
What is prescriptivism?