A Study On Universal Prescriptivism Of R.M.Hare

In the early 20 th century,metaethics was dominated by intuitionism represented by Moore and emotionalism represented by Stevenson.Intuitionism holds that the moral attribute is unique,which cannot be explained by theories external to moral philosophy such as metaphysics,natural sciences,and can only be grasped by intuition.However,emotionalism holds that the moral proposition is not a description of facts at all,but an expression of moral emotions.Because everyone is different from each other,the intuition and emotions used to make moral judgments may also be different.R.M.Hare intends to find a more rational method of moral judgment.Hare began to examine the "command",thinking that moral language is a special command,which he called "prescription ".Additionally,he also pointed out that moral language has an important "difference" compared with general command,which is "universality".Therefore,he draws two important characteristics of moral language,namely prescription and universality,and universal prescriptivism is formed by the combination of the two.There is a moral logic in universal prescriptivism,and the moral judgment based on the logic is rational to him.Universal prescriptivism is a combination of rationalism and nondescriptivism.Hare classified the various metaethics that prevailed at that time according to description and non-description,in order to take its essence and remove its dross.As a result,he believes that the most ideal path is a rational nondescriptiveism.With the theoretical research and practical application,Hare surprisingly discovered that his universal prescriptivism gradually derived a utilitarian theory as a result.The problem is that universal prescriptivism is in the same vein as Kantianism,which is generally regarded as a theory completely opposite to utilitarianism.However,Hare demonstrated that Kantianism and utilitarianism are indeed compatible.Universal prescriptivism has opened up a successful model for rational nondescriptivism,and has made more progress in the field of metaethics,such as normative expressionism and cognitive nondescriptivism.