Cultural Relativism and Subjectivism in Ethics

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Cultural Relativism and Subjectivism in Ethics
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Charles Taylors 3 Questions of Ethical Theory

• Charles Taylor is one of Canadas most
  influential contemporary philosophers
• He suggests that all theories of ethics must
  provide answers to 3 basic, but fundamentally
  distinct questions
• What do I owe others?
• In what consists my own dignity?
• Why be moral?

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Tradition

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vgRdfX7ut8gw

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Relativism

• What do I owe others?
• Whatever your culture expects from you in terms
  of laws and customs of right behavior
• In what consists my own dignity?
• Emulating the models of behavior presented by the
  major conveyors of culture in your society
• Why be moral?
• No one can avoid the process of enculturation

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Main Arguments for Cultural Relativism

• Cultural Differences Argument
• Different cultures have different moral codes,
  therefore, there is no objective truth in
  morality.
• Supports Tolerance
• It is arrogant (even imperialistic) for us to
  judge other cultures. The moral code of our own
  society has no special status it is but one
  among many
• Supports Cultural Humility
• There is no objective standard that can be used
  to judge one societys code as better than
  anothers

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Main Objections To Cultural Relativism

• Problems with the Cultural Differences Argument
• Seems to overlook the fact value distinction
• The fact of ongoing disagreement can be explained
  by other explanations
• There is less disagreement than there sometimes
  seems
• Self contradictory?
• Is the statement There are no universal truths
  about ethics itself a universal truth about
  ethics?

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Other Difficult Questions

• What if another societys code calls for
  intolerance towards your society?
• What if there is something unjust that is
  taught by your society? What grounds can one
  use to criticize it?
• Is there such a thing as moral progress? Or do
  norms just change through time as societies
  change?

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Subjectivism in Ethics

• What do I owe others?
• To each their own taste
• In what consists my own dignity?
• Following and expressing your most deeply held
  sentiments (your gut reaction to things)
• Why be moral?
• People just have different feelings and opinions
  about different things in life

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Emotivism

• Made popular in mid 20th century by Charles L.
  Stevenson (a member of the logical positivist
  movement)
• Asserts that the only kinds of statements that
  can be judged true or false are empirical
  statements
• So what are ethical statements (which seem to
  also make claims to truth) about?
• Should be translated as commands (not meant to
  convey information, but merely to direct others)

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Main Arguments for Subjectivism

• The there are no proofs in ethics Argument
• Either there are moral facts in the same way that
  there are facts about planets and trees and
  spoons (decidable by straightforward empirical
  tests) or our values are nothing more than the
  expression of our subjective attitudes. There
  are no such moral facts therefore.
• As David Hume notes, no matter how hard you look
  (or engage your other senses) you can never find
  goodness as a sensible quality of nature

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Some Obvious Objections

• No way of being wrong ethically as long as you
  are reporting your attitudes and feelings in a
  sincere fashion
• For the purposes of ethical argument, anything
  that makes other people change their attitudes to
  be the same as yours are acceptable reasons
  (including racist, sexist, reasons)

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Main Objections To Subjectivism in Ethics

• The no proof argument might be a fallacious
  argument
• A false dichotomy? Either A or B, not A, so B
  (But when there are also other options like C)
  Either there are moral facts, or our values are
  merely the expression of subjective feelings
• But might truths of ethics be a result of a
  different kind of reasoning process than the kind
  found in science?
• Perhaps in ethics, rational thinking consists in
  giving reasons, analyzing arguments, setting out
  and justifying principles, and so on

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Question for 1st Minor Essay Topic (750 words)

• Is it wrong for people from Western societies to
  criticize the practice of female circumcision?
• To find out more about female circumcision,
  consider the case of Fauziya Kassindja (pp.
  24-25)
• Focus on the issue of the condemnation of
  excision by western institutions like the New
  York Times and ask yourself whether it can be
  right for people in one country to morally
  condemn practices considered acceptable in
  another country
• Essay instructions http//faculty.capebretonu.ca/
  jgerrie/essay.html