Chapter+XI

**Moral Arguments**

 * Understand the distinction between moral statements, arguments, and theories.
 * Learn the difference between moral and nonmoral statements.
 * Be familiar with the structure of moral arguments.
 * Know the reason why a moral argument requires at least one moral premise.
 * Know how to supply the missing moral premise in a moral argument.
 * Know how to use the counterexample method to evaluate moral premises.

**Moral Theories**

 * Recognize the differences among moral judgments, principles, and theories.
 * Recognize that everyone has a moral theory and that it's important to ensure that your moral theory is coherent.
 * Understand the similarities between moral theories and scientific theories.
 * Know the three moral criteria of adequacy.
 * Know how to apply the moral criteria of adequacy to moral theories.

**A Coherent Worldview**

 * Understand what a worldview is and why having a coherent worldview is so important.
 * Understand how a worldview can fail to be coherent.
 * Know how and why the criterion of internal consistency is applied to worldviews.

Chapter summary
A moral argument is an argument in which the conclusion is a moral statement. A moral statement is a statement asserting that an action is right or wrong (moral or immoral) or that a person or motive is good or bad. In a moral argument, we cannot establish the conclusion without a moral premise. A standard moral argument has at least one premise that asserts a general moral principle, at least one premise that is a nonmoral claim, and a conclusion that is a moral statement. Often a moral premise in a moral argument is implicit. In evaluating any moral argument, it's best to specify any implicit premises. The best approach to identifying the implicit premises is to treat moral arguments as deductive. Your job then is to supply plausible premises that will make the argument valid. You can test a premise that is a general moral principle by trying to think of counterexamples to it. Theories of morality are attempts to explain what makes an action right or what makes a person good. We test moral theories the same way we test any other theory -- by applying criteria of adequacy to a theory and its competitors. The criteria of adequacy for moral theories are > (1) consistency with considered moral judgments, > (2) consistency with our experience of the moral life, and > (3) workability in real-life situations. Making a coherent worldview is the work of a lifetime. Worldviews are composites of theories, including theories of morality. A good worldview must consist of good theories. But it also must be have internal consistency -- the theories composing our worldview must not conflict.