Michael Formisano

2. Label the following….
a) “One ought to respect one’s elders because it is one of God’s commandments.” This is a normative judgment because it is talking about morals. It is also labeled as religion because it claims that the morals are set by a religious figure. In this case it is God.
b) “Twice as many people today, as compared to ten years ago, believe that the death penalty is morally justified in some cases.” This is a normative judgment because it is talking about whether or not something is morally justifiable. It is labeled law because it is a case that deals with a law (punishment).
c) “It would be wrong to put an antique chair in a modern room.” This is a descriptive judgment because it does not talk about morals at all. It is simply empirical.
d) “People do not always do what they believe to be right” This one is a bit tricky. It seems to be a little bit of both because it is describing what people do based on what they believe to be right. But this could also be normative because what people believe to be right and wrong comes down to morals.

4. “Explain emotivism and intuitionism in ethical theory.”
In regards to ethical theory, emotivism explains morals in a subjective manner. The book explains that it would like saying that “murder us wrong” by saying “murder-yuck!” Or to say “courageous self-sacrifice is good” by saying “self-sacrifice-yeah!”
Intuitionism, however, “claims that our ideas about ethics rest upon some sort of intuitive