AB The intuitionism approach to ethics is a non-naturalistic theory which claims that moral truths are objective and factual. The basic idea about the theory is that we should recognise right and wrong through fundamental moral intuitions which is self-evident towards ourselves. This view is associated with thinkers like G.E Moore who felt that moral values such as ‘good’ could not be defined, although we can understand and recognise ‘goodness’. Therefore, Intuitionism presents moral knowledge as real and discoverable but not through empirical or scientific means. G.E Moore argues that terms like ‘good’ are indefinable due to it being impossible to be broken down into separate parts unlike a physical object like a horse. Attempting to define “good” results in committing the naturalistic fallacy which is confusing descriptive statements (is) with prescriptive moral values (ought). For example, ‘women can give birth’ is a is while ‘it is good for women to give birth’ turns it into an ought. Goodness/badness/right/wrong is all part of the world but these moral values are simply based on moral sense that can’t be described literally. A quote from Moore describes this “My point is that ‘good’ is a simple notion, just as yellow is a simple, notion yet you cannot describe it.” Intuitionism is also a form a moral realism, which means that moral truths exist independently of a person. This means that certain actions are right or wrong regardless of individual beliefs are cultural norms. Due to this, we will often say that we feel something is wrong which can be a ‘stand-alone belief’ that doesn't depend on anything else for explanation. For example, many people strongly agree that it is wrong to kill an innocent person, even if doing so would save multiple loves, as illustrated in the trolley problem. This kind of moral knowledge supports the idea that moral truths are self-evident and do not rely on external factors. W.D Ross is also a supporter of the intuitionist approach to meta ethics as he argues that intuitionism is what happens when we have to decide between conflicting moral duties. Because of this, he listed serval duties that we must feel instinctively we must do. These are called prima facie duties, and they include rules like ‘keep our promises’ and ‘look after our parents’. If none of the six duties conflict with each other then they become absolute. However, if they do conflict Ross says we must use our intuition and balance the points to find the best outcome. For example, if a mad axe murderer comes to your house and asks where you friend is your intuition will tell you to lie. When it comes to harder situations like breaking a promise to your parents for their own good this is where common sense/ intuition will tell you also what the right thing is to do.