Naturalism
The meta-ethical position that moral properties are natural properties reducible to physical or psychological facts. Goodness = happiness, pleasure, preference satisfaction, or flourishing. Naturalism grounds morality in nature and makes ethics scientifically investigable. It avoids mysterious non-natural facts.
Real World
Peter Singer's utilitarian arguments about global poverty — that giving to effective charities is morally required because suffering is a natural, measurable harm — exemplify naturalism: ethics grounded in empirical facts about human well-being.
Exam Focus
When 'assess' naturalism, evaluate both its scientific appeal and Moore's open question objection as a direct counter-argument.
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