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Pojman ethics 8e_ppt_ch02
- 2. Chapter Two: Ethical Relativism
In the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries used
coercion to change the customs of pagan tribal people.
Since the nineteenth century, we’ve made progress in
understanding cultural diversity.
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- 3. Ethical Relativism: Key Terms
Ethnocentrism: The prejudicial view that interprets all
of reality through the eyes of one’s own cultural beliefs
and values.
Moral objectivism: The view that there are universal
and objective moral principles valid for all people and
social environments.
Ethical nihilism: The doctrine that no valid moral
principles exist, that morality is a complete fiction.
Ethical relativism: The view that there are no objective
moral principles, but that such principles are human
inventions.
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- 4. 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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- 5. Subjective Ethical Relativism
Morality depends directly on the individual, not on one’s
culture or an objective value.
Morality is like taste or aesthetic judgment; it is in the
eye of the beholder.
In this view, Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy could be
considered as moral as Gandhi, as long as each lived by
his own standards.
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- 6. Consequences of Subjectivism
Little or no interpersonal argument, criticism, or
judgment is possible.
In this view, morality does not help the minimal moral
aim of preventing a Hobbesian state of nature.
It implicitly assumes moral solipsism, a view that
isolated individuals make up separate universes.
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- 7. Conventional Ethical
Relativism
This view states that there are no objective moral
principles, but that all valid principles are justified by
virtue of their cultural acceptance.
It recognizes the social nature of morality.
It also treats the principle of tolerance as an absolute
moral principle.
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- 8. 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.
It is an anthropological theory that acknowledges that
moral rules differ from society to society.
Sometimes referred to as cultural relativism.
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- 9. The Dependency Thesis
All moral principles derive their validity from cultural
acceptance.
It asserts individual acts are right or wrong depending
on the nature of the society in which they occur.
Morality may be seen in a context that depends on the
goals, wants, beliefs, history, and environment of the
society in question.
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- 10. Criticisms of Conventional
Ethical Relativism
It undermines important values.
It leads to subjectivism and moral solipsism.
Moral diversity is exaggerated.
Weak dependency does not imply relativism.
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- 11. 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.
This viewpoint holds that language is the essence of a
culture and fundamentally shapes its reality.
This seems to imply that each society’s moral principles
depend on its unique linguistically grounded culture.
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- 12. 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.
However, unless moral objectivism can make a positive
case, relativism may survive criticisms as the default
position.
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