A Study Of The Thought Of The Good In Moore's Metaethics

Moore,the author of “ Principia Ethica”,is the founder of metaethics.Moore made a new combing of the "good" in ethics.In the beginning,he put forward a new point of view,that is,"the good is not definable",and showed that "good" should be the fundamental problem of all ethics and his explanation of the definition of "good".In Moore's view,"definition" is an "analysis","good" is a simple concept which cannot be defined,and "good act" is a compound concept which can be defined.Moore's critique of traditional ethics on the basis of his assertion that goodness is indefinable,Traditional ethics falls into two major fallacies,Naturlistic Fallacy and Metaphysical Fallacy.Because traditional ethicists always define "good" in terms of things with "good" nature,so that the definition of "good" is too many and confused,which falls into the naturalistic fallacy,Metaphysical ethics confuses "reality" with "possibility".There are two contradictions in metaphysical ethics,one is to think that something that is eternal and real will be realized in the future,the other is that the eternal is the only reality,so the metaphysical ethics is also wrong.After expounding the fallacy of traditional ethics,Moore puts forward his own view of "good",the concept of "good" as a simple concept is undefined,but the compound concept of "good act" can be defined.Moore further classifies "good acts" into good ends and good means,and again according to the difference between good and evil things involve.Moore originally wanted to make a scientific analysis and clarifying of ethics and "goodness",but his classification of "purpose goodness" was too idealistic,so that his "goodness" was separated from the living reality,but Moore's ethical thought of "goodness" still had an indelible impact on the development of ethics.