Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong

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Chapter TwoEthical Relativism
Ethical Relativism holds that there are no
objective moral principles, but that such
principles are human inventions.
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Ethnocentrism

• The prejudicial view that interprets all of
  reality through the eyes of one's own cultural
  beliefs and values

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Moral Objectivism

• The view that there are universal and objective
  moral principles valid for all people and social
  environments.

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Ethical Nihilism

• The doctrine that holds that there are no valid
  moral principles that exist.
• Morality is a complete fiction.

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Two Main Forms of Ethical Relativism

• Subjective ethical relativism (Subjectivism)
• All moral principles are justified by virtue of
  their acceptance by an individual agent him- or
  herself
• Conventional ethical relativism
  (Conventionalism)
• All moral principles are justified by virtue of
  their cultural acceptance

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Subjective Ethical Relativism

• Morality depends not on society, but rather on
  the individual.
• Morality is like taste or aesthetic judgment.
• Morality is in the eye of the beholder.
• Does not help the minimal moral aim of preventing
  a Hobbesian state of nature
• Implicitly assumes moral solipsism, a view that
  isolated individuals make up separate universes

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The Diversity Thesis

• What is considered morally right and wrong varies
  from society to society, so there are no
  universal moral standards held by all societies
• An Anthropological theory that acknowledges that
  moral rules differ from society to society
• Sometimes referred to as cultural relativism

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Dependency Thesis

• All moral principles derive their validity from
  cultural acceptance
• Asserts individual acts are right or wrong
  depending on the nature of the society in which
  the occur
• Morality must be seen in a context that depends
  on the goals, wants, beliefs, history, and
  environment of the society in question

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Conventional Ethical Relativism

• This view states that there are no objective
  moral principles, but that all valid moral
  principles are justified by virtue of their
  cultural acceptance.
• This view recognizes the social nature of
  morality.
• Treats the principle of tolerance as an absolute
  moral principle

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Criticisms of Conventional Ethical Relativism

• Undermines important values
• Leads to subjectivism
• Moral diversity is exaggerated
• Weak dependency does not imply relativism

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The Indeterminacy of Language

• The indeterminacy of translation argument
• Holds that languages are often so fundamentally
  different from each other that we cannot
  accurately translate concepts from one to another
• Holds that language is the essence of a culture
  and fundamentally shapes its reality
• Seems to imply that each society's moral
  principles depend on its unique linguistically
  grounded culture

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Conclusion

• Subjective ethical relativism seems to boil down
  to anarchistic individualism
• Conventional ethical relativism fails to deal
  adequately with the problem of the reformer, the
  question of defining a culture, and the whole
  enterprise of moral criticism
• Unless moral objectivism can make a positive
  case, relativism may survive criticisms