Chapter 5 The Problem of Relativism and Morality

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Chapter 5The Problem of Relativism and Morality
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QUIZ 5.1

• 1. Ethical relativists claim that
•        
• a. everything is relative.
•      b. there are no objective truths.
• c. there are no objective moral principles.
• d. everybody's view is as good as everyone
  else's.

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QUIZ 5.1

• 2.  The emotivists said that moral judgments have
  no cognitive meaning whatsoever.
• a. True
• b. False

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QUIZ 5.1

• 3. Emotivists believe that its good to be
  emotional.
• a. True
• b. False

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QUIZ 5.1

• 4. A consequentialist ethical theory is one that
  judges actions in terms of their net results.
• a. True
• b. False

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Section 5.1Dont Question Authority

• Might Makes Right

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Objective? Relative?

• What is the moral relativism supposed to be? Some
  praise it. Others denounce it as a great evil.
• People say things like this?
• Morality is relative.
• Morality is subjective.
• Morality is just a matter of taste.
• Morality varies with ones point of view?

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Objective? Relative?

• Two questions?
• What is the appeal of this talk?
• What do people mean by it?

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Subjective vs. Objective

• Lets say that an object o has a property P
  objectively (or P is an objective property of o)
  iff
• os having P is in no way constituted by the fact
  that one or more people think or feel about o in
  a certain way. Otherwise, P is a subjective
  property of o.
• Being 6 feet tall
• Being liked by the majority of human beings
• Weighing more than Ron Wilburn
• Being regarded as a saint
• Being beautiful (e.g., The Mona Lisa)?
• Being morally wrong (actions)? Being morally bad
  (goods or states of affairs)? Being virtuous or
  viscious (character traits)?

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Absolute vs. Relative

• Lets say that an object o has a property P
  absolute (or P is an absolute property of o) iff
• O has P from every point of view. Otherwise, P is
  a relative property of o
• Being 6 feet tall
• Being liked by the majority of human beings
• Being tall
• Being agreeable
• Being 6 feet tall
• Being beautiful (e.g., The Mona Lisa)?
• Being morally wrong (actions)? Being morally bad
  (goods or states of affairs)? Being virtuous or
  viscious (character traits)?

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The Status of Moral Facts
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Subjective Absolutism

• Subjective Absolutism?
• What makes an action right is that someone
  approves of it.
• Is this view plausible?
• Consistency?

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Subjective Relativism

• Subjective Relativism?
• What makes an action right for a particular agent
  (you, me) is that this agent approves of it.
• Is this view plausible?
• Does it suffer from the consistency problem that
  plagued Subjective Absolutism?
• Subjective relativism avoids the charge of
  inconsistency that undermined subjective
  absolutism because moral judgments are relative
  to the individual making them.

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Consequences of Subjective Relativism

• Moral disagreement?
• Fallibility?
• Does it give the right results?

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The Problem so far?

• Maybe the difficulty is in trying to view moral
  statements as expressing truths of any kind at
  all
• Might they be seen as doing something else?
• What might this be?

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Emotivism

• According to emotivism, moral utterances are
  expressions of emotion.
• Because moral utterances are not statements, it
  avoids the inconsistency of subjective absolutism
• Disagreement?

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Thought Experiment Blanshards Rabbit

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Cultural Relativism

• Cultural relativism
• What makes an action right is that it is approved
  by ones culture.
• Disagreement?
• Fallibility?
• Is it even workable?

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The Anthropological Argument

• People in difference societies make different
  moral judgments regarding the same action.
• If so, they must accept different moral
  standards.
• If they accept different moral standards, there
  are no universal moral standards.
• Therefore, there are no universal moral standards.

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The Anthropological Argument(Evaluated)

• People in difference societies make different
  moral judgments regarding the same action.
• If so, they must accept different moral
  standards.
• If they accept different moral standards, there
  are no universal moral standards.
• Therefore, there are no universal moral standards.

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The Anthropological Argument(Evaluated)

• People in difference societies make different
  moral judgments regarding the same action.
• If so, they must accept different moral
  standards.
• If they accept different moral standards, there
  are no universal moral standards.
• Therefore, there are no universal moral standards.

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The Logical Structure of Moral Judgments
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Thought ProbeMoral Children

• Research by William Damon suggests that even
  young children have a sophisticated sense of
  right and wrong thats independent of cultural or
  parental authority.
• Does this lend credibility to the claim that
  there are universal moral standards?

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The Divine Command Theory

• Divine Command Theory
• What makes an action right is that God commands
  it to be done.

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The Euthyphro Problem

• A is right iff God commands us to do A
• What question does this leave us with?
• Is an action right because God commands it to be
  done
• or
• Does God command it to be done because its
  right?
• Lets look at both alternatives.

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God and Goodness

• According to the divine command theory, God could
  have commanded us to kill, rape, steal, and
  torture.
• But killing, raping, stealing, and torturing are
  wrong.
• If God is by definition good (and thus couldnt
  command those things), then God cant be used to
  define goodness, for the definition would be
  circular.

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God and Reason

• If Gods commands are not based on reasons, then
  they are irrational and arbitrary.
• But we have no moral obligation to obey
  irrational and arbitrary commands.
• Moreover, one who acts irrationally and
  arbitrarily is not worthy of worship.

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First alternative Is an action right because
God commands it to be done

• Leibniz on the Divine Command Theory
• In saying that things are good simply by the
  will of God, one destroys without realizing it,
  all the love of God and all his glory for why
  praise him for what he has done, if he would be
  equally praiseworthy in doing the contrary? Where
  will be his wisdom if he has only a certain
  despotic power?

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Second alternative Does God command it to
be done because its right?

• Pike on the Divine Command Theory
• It is a necessity for God to be just, loving,
  merciful. He cannot be unjust, cruel,
  merciless.As is it is impossible to make two and
  two be fiveso it is impossible for the Deity to
  make crime a merit, and love and gratitude
  crimes.

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Thought Probe Moral Knowledge

• Renford Bambrough maintains
• We know that this child, who is about to undergo
  what would otherwise be painful surgery, should
  be given an anesthetic before the operation.

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Are There Universal Moral Principles?

• A self-evident truth is one which is such that if
  you understand it, you know that its true.
• The Principle of JusticeEquals should be treated
  equally.
• The Principle of MercyUnnecessary suffering is
  wrong.

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Thought Probe Moral Knowledge

• Renford Bambrough maintains We know that this
  child, who is about to undergo what would
  otherwise be painful surgery, should be given an
  anesthetic before the operation.
• Do we know this?
• If so, does it show that there are objective
  moral truths?