section_path: Analytic philosophy/Ethics
section_name: Ethics
paragraph_text: Ethics
  
  Ethics in 20th century analytic philosophy has been argued to have begun with Moore's Principia Ethica. Moore argued that what is good cannot be defined. Instead, he saw ethical behaviour a result of intuition, which led to non-cognitivism. W. D. Ross in contrast argued that duty formed the basis for ethics.
  
  Russell's meta-ethical thought anticipated emotivism and error theory. This was supported by the logical positivists, and later popularised by A. J. Ayer. Charles Stevenson also argued that ethical terms were expressions of emotive meanings by speakers. R. M. Hare aimed to expand their meaning from mere expressions, to also being prescriptions which are universalizable. J. L. Mackie supported error theory on the basis that objective values do not exist, as they are culturally relative and would be metaphysically strange.
  
  Another strand of ethical thinking began with G. E. M. Anscombe arguing in 1958 that both consequentialism and deontology were based on obligation, which could not function without divine authority, instead promoting virtue ethics. Other notable virtue ethicists included Philippa Foot and Alasdair MacIntyre. The latter combined it with communitarianism.