emotivism
UK[ɪˈməʊtɪvɪzəm]US[ɪˈmoʊt̬ɪvɪzəm]
n
The meta-ethical theory which claims that ethical sentences do not express propositions but emotional attitudes.
n
The practice of reducing ethical arguments or judgments to expressions of personal feeling or preference.
Morpheme Breakdown
emotive
ism
emotive
relating to emotion
ism
system or doctrine
Etymology
The term 'emotivism' is a 20th-century philosophical construction, directly built from the existing English word 'emotive' and the productive suffix '-ism'. The root traces back to Latin emovere, a compound of e- ('out') and movere ('to move'), literally meaning 'to move out' or 'stir up', which evolved to signify the stirring of feelings. The suffix '-ism', indicating a practice or doctrine, was attached to create a label for the specific ethical theory that moral language is primarily an expression of emotional attitude. Thus, the word's logic is transparent: it names the 'doctrine' (-ism) centered on 'emotion' (emotive) as the key to understanding ethical statements.
Analysis
Structure: emotive (relating to emotion) + ism (system or doctrine)
emotive: From Latin emot-, past participle stem of emovere ('to move out, stir up, agitate'), via English 'emotion'. In this compound, it functions as the root conveying the core concept of 'emotion' or 'feeling'.
ism: A suffix of Greek origin (via Latin -ismus), used to form nouns denoting a distinctive system, theory, or doctrine.
Examples
Emotivism argues that saying "murder is wrong" is not stating a fact but expressing a feeling of disapproval.
Critics of emotivism claim it reduces morality to mere subjective preferences.
The philosopher A.J. Ayer was a prominent defender of emotivism in his logical positivist work.