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metaethical

metaethical

1 9.9
About the meaning and nature of moral words and judgments
  • adjective
  • /ˌmɛtəˈɛθɪkəl/
  • Formal
: metaético
  • The study of metaethical theories helps clarify the meaning of ethical terms and the foundations of moral judgments.
  • metaethical position

Examples

  • I will look at how a variety of metaethical positions have responded to this tension, and suggest that none are entirely satisfactory.

    Blog text (25)
  • Cross-cultural bioethicists are more likely to commit to metaethical positions for reasons other than the strength of the arguments.

    Academic text (2016)
  • The failure to resolve these disagreements has contributed to arguments based on the metaethical positions described in Section I.

    Academic text (2016)
  • This paper will not prove which of the three positions is the proper metaethical foundation for bioethical justification.

    Academic text (2016)
  • I suggest that the metaethical assumptions of these positions result from their shared method of ethical justification: moral principlism.

    Academic text (2016)
  • There is another possible metaethical position with regard to the question of "global bioethics" that is not currently represented in the debate; this is the view of moral particularism.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Using the issue of informed consent in East Asia as an example of one such discourse, I analyze two representative positions in the discussion and identify their metaethical commitments.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Identifying the role of these metaethical assumptions in cross-cultural bioethical justification provides the clarification necessary for continued dialogue.

    Academic text (2016)
  • In this paper, I argue that a major reason for these entrenched disagreements is that problematic metaethical commitments are hidden in these cross-cultural discourses.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Third, I analyze the metaethical positions and general commitments behind these attempted justifications to show that their assumptions about ethical justification render their arguments unsuccessful.

    Academic text (2016)

Surface Forms

metaethical positive

Morphology

metaethical = ethical (semi-transparent) = meta + ethic + al

The word is built transparently from 'meta-' plus 'ethical', but the philosophical specialization of 'meta-' makes the full sense less immediately obvious to many learners.

Etymology

The word metaethical comes from Greek meta- meaning 'beyond' or 'about' and ethical from 'ethics' meaning 'right and wrong'. So, metaethical means 'about' ethics and is used for the study of what moral words and judgments really mean.