Definition : also called as moral subjectivism, is a philosophical theory
that suggests moral truths that are determined on an individual level. It holds that there are no moral properties and that ethical statements are illogical because they do not express immutable truths. As a cognitivist approach to subjectivism, ethical subjectivism suggests that moral statements are propositions that describes the attitudes of an individual rather than something social, cultural or objectively universal. To further understand ethical subjectivism maintains the validity of moral standards depends on their acceptance by an individual. Since there is no absolute truth, what is right and wrong is relative to the individual and moral principles vary from person to person. Moral judgements are dependent on the feelings of the persons who think about such things. It stands in contrast to moral realism. https://ethicsinpr.wikispaces.com/Ethical+Subjectivism
Founder : Richard Booker Brandt was an American philosopher working in the utilitarian tradition in moral philosophy. Brandt was originally educated at Denison University, a Baptist institution he was shepherded to by his minister father. He received his PhD in Philosophy from Yale University. He taught at Swarthmore College before becoming Chair of the Department of Philosophy the University of Michigan, where he taught with Charles Stevenson and William K. Frankena (1908 1994) and spent the remainder of his career. The expressivist moral philosopher Allan Gibbard has mentioned his great intellectual debt to Brandt. Brandt wrote Ethical Theory (1959), an influential textbook in the field. He defended a version of rule utilitarianism in "Toward a credible form of utilitarianism" (1963) and performed cultural-anthropological studies in Hopi Ethics (1954). In A Theory of the Good and the Right, Brandt proposed a "reforming definition" of rationality, that one is rational if one's preferences are such that they survive cognitive psychotherapy in terms of all relevant information and logical criticism. He argued also that the morality such rational persons would accept would be a form of utilitarianism. Brandt believed that moral rules should be considered in sets which he called moral codes. A moral code is justified when it is the optimal code that, if adopted and followed, would maximize the public good more than any alternative code would. The codes may be society-wide standards or special codes for a profession like engineering. Brandt , in his idea of subjectivism have been used more vaguely , confusedly ,and in more different senses than the others being considered. Suggested that as a
convenient usage, however, that theory be called subjectivist if and only if ,
according to it , any ethical assertion implies that somebody does, or somebody of a certain sort under certain conditions would, take some specified attitude toward something. A subjectivist ,clearly, can be either an absolutist or relativist.
Ethical Realism Definition :
Moral Realism (or Moral Objectivism) is the meta-ethical view
that there exist such things as moral facts and moral values, and that these are objective and independent of our perception of them or our beliefs, feelings or other attitudes towards them. Therefore, moral judgments describe moral facts, which are as certain in their own way as mathematical facts. It is a cognitivist view in that it holds that ethical sentences express valid propositions (and are therefore "truth-apt" i.e. they are able to be true or false), and that they describe the state of the real world. It contrasts with various types of Moral Anti-Realism, including non-cognitivist or expressivist theories of moral judgment, error theories, fictionalist theories and constructivist or relativist theories. http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_moral_realism.html
Founders : Plato Stephen Boyd
Moral realism is a general doctrine. It is consistent with Plato's view that morality involves universal, absolute, unchanging moral ideals that may be fully understood only by the wise. Others believe that moral standards are in the mind of God, and so are objective. This is another form of moral realism. However, many philosophers contend that even if God proposes moral standards, we may reject them. If God wanted us to do something evil, we would know that it was evil. Even if God wills only the good, the fact that we can judge what God wills suggests that moral standards are not simply in God's mind. Plato gradually came to realize the need for metaphysics to support his ethical position and that rigorous ethics required a secure metaphysics grounded in universal values.
The American philosopher Stephen Boyd recently proposed some simple tests to confirm the truth of moral realism.
Moral reasoning must start with approximately true moral beliefs.
True beliefs must have some relation to observations.
Moral terms require definitions in terms of natural objects, like happiness.
Boyd outlines a theory he thinks conforms to these demands, nonutilitarian
consequentialism. This theory centers on human needs such as friendship, cooperation, autonomy, and physical recreation. These human goods often occur together, and, in proper balance, they are mutually supporting. Moral decisionmaking is concerned with achieving the proper balance, through enhanced psychological and social mechanisms, so as to strengthen the bond between human values. Boyd's theory presumes that we have true moral beliefs relating to these human needs, but this is far from clear. Human needs do play a key role in ethics, but other issues, freedom, justice, and equality, go beyond basic human needs. Yet it seems that Boyd's defense of moral realism rests too heavily on a form of naturalism that relates to an overly restricted part of moral experience. http://www.lawandbioethics.com/demo/Main/EthicsResources/realism_in_moral_theo ry.htm#Top https://muse.jhu.edu/book/24407
