1 / 9

Ethical Relativism

Ethical Relativism. Introduction to Ethical Relativism Standard Ethical View: Rational and Impartial. Ethical standpoint must be based on reasoning , which is common to all persons. Ethical standpoint must be impartial : all persons considered equally. Standard view Rationality

kalkin
Download Presentation

Ethical Relativism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ethical Relativism

  2. Introduction to Ethical RelativismStandard Ethical View: Rational and Impartial • Ethical standpoint must be based on reasoning, which is common to all persons. • Ethical standpoint must be impartial: all persons considered equally.

  3. Standard view Rationality Impartiality Challenge Ethical relativism: what is right is not based on universal reason but on beliefs of each culture. Ethical egoism: our only obligation is to ourselves Challenges to Standard View

  4. Travel to an Exotic Land You are the guest of a tribe that practices a ritual of killing a child to kill each year in order to please the gods and assure health and prosperity for the coming year. It is considered a great honor to be chosen to be killed or to do the killing. Since you are an honored guest, you are offered the spear to kill the child. Would it be morally wrong for you to participate?

  5. Ethical Absolutism: YES Consequentialism Nonconsequentialism (Both theories are absolutist and based on universal reasoning) Ethical Relativism: NO What is ethically right is dependent on (relative to) the culture and period of history. Are There Any Universal Truths That Apply to All Persons at All Times?

  6. Distinguish Ethical Relativism from Sociological Relativism Sociological Relativism (purely descriptive claim): Cultures differ in their beliefs about ethics Ethical Relativism: What is true in ethics differs from culture to culture.

  7. Can We Use Sociological Relativism to Argue for Ethical Relativism? • Different cultures have different moral beliefs (S.R.) • Hidden premise? • Therefore, there is no universal truth in ethics. (E.R.)

  8. Reduction to Absurdity Arguments Premise X (logically leads to) Premise Y and we KNOW Premise Y is false; thus premise X is false. X. Heart disease is contagious Y. unrelated people living with those who have heart disease have a greater chance of getting it. X. Utilitarianism Y. “slavery is sometimes morally okay”

  9. Ethical Relativism Absurdities • Moral comparisons among groups would be meaningless. • Moral judgments even within a group would be impossible. • Ultimately, “might makes right.”

More Related