The Phenomenon of Universality in G.E. Moore’s Moral Philosophy

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problem of universality in G.E. Moore’s ethics. Based on an ana­lysis of Principia Ethica and related works, I have identified three meanings of this notion. These are ontological universality, epistemic universality, and practical universality. Univer­sality in the first meaning is that the very notion of good is universal. Universality in the se­cond meaning is that if one instantiation of X is good, we can be sure that all other instantia­tions of X are also good. Universality in the third meaning means that if a certain type of be­havior has some moral value, it has it in all cases. Further scrutiny shows that the phrase “in all cases” in the third meaning of universality can sometimes be restricted to a certain type of society, while in other cases there are no such restrictions.