PHIL 440A: Study Questions on Introductory Readings:

Objective Normativity

1. What does Mackie mean by saying that his view is second order moral skepticism?

2. Why does Mackie call his theory an "Error Theory"? Use this answer to explain why Mackie thinks that ethical noncognitivism and ethical naturalism are both mistaken.

3. The argument from queerness aims to persuade us that objective normativity is completely implausible. The argument has a metaphysical branch and an epistemological branch. Explain each.

4. What does Mackie mean when he says that the best strategy for the moral objectivist is to look for "companions in guilt"?

5. How does Nagel make it clear that he is not operating within the Proof Paradigm?

6. What is Instrumentalism?

7. What is the difference between the personal and the impersonal point of view?

8. For Nagel, what does it mean to say that there are objective values or objective reasons?

9. Give examples that Nagel would agree are examples of agent-neutral and agent-relative reasons and use them to explain the distinction. Which kind(s) are objective?

10. What is Nagel's full response to Mackie on objective normativity