ETHICAL INTUITIONISM, Allwin Mathew T.

Ethical intuitionism was popular in the early twentieth century, particularly among British analytic philosophers. So it is sometimes called British intuitionism. To intuit something is to apprehend it directly, without make a reasoning process such as deduction or induction. Ethical intuitionism is a moral epistemology according to which moral truths can be known without inference; that is acquisition of moral knowledge is non-inferential. There are mainly two views in ethical intuitionism. They are rationalist and empiricist models.

Rationalist version of ethical intuitionism holds the view that the non-inferential moral knowledge is a priori, non-empirically based intuitions of truths, such as basic truths of mathematics. They claim that the basic moral truths whether they are principles or judgments, they are known without inference, and in particular they are known by one's own rational intuition. Some rationalist ethical intuitionists characterize moral "intuitions" as a species of belief that are self evident in that they are justified simply by virtue of one's own understanding of the proposition believed. Others characterize "intuitions" as a distinct kind of mental state, in which something seems to be the case as a result of intellectual reflection. According to empiricist version of ethical intuitionism, which is known as moral sense, the non-inferential ethical knowledge is based on sense perception. Thus moral truths are known by moral sense which is based on experience, not inference.  

Intuitionism is sometimes identified with pluralism, the view that there is plurality of fundamental ethical properties or principles. This identification probably occurs because pluralists often accept the epistemological version of intuitionism. Monists in the theory of the right say that there is only one way in which an action can get to be right. Kant was a monist. But Ross argued that actions can be made in any number of ways

There are some criticisms on Ethical intuitionism. Though ethical intuitionists on the analogy, they equally insist that the facts about right and wrong are perfectly objective. How can they have it both ways? Ethical intuitionists could respond by arguing that the moral aesthetic analogy is merely used to illustrate the fact that not all senses are limited to the five physical senses. However, this does not necessarily imply any further connection between the moral and aesthetic senses.