Ethical Relativism
ETCI Page 20
Ethics & Contemporary Issues
Professor Douglas Olena
Common Sayings
• 20 What is right for one person is not necessarily
right for another.
• What is right in some circumstances is not right
in other circumstances.
• If these statements are “true then it seems we
cannot make any general or objective moral
assessments.”
Plan
• Examine ethical relativism.
• What are its two basic forms?
• Present reasons for and against it.
What is Ethical
Relativism?
• 20 “A theory that holds that there are no
universally accepted ethical standards.”
• “It is the view that there is no objective standard
of right and wrong, even in principle.”
• 21 “The opposite point of view, that there is
objective right and wrong, is often called
objectivism, or sometimes nonrelativism.”
Compare Ethics with
Science
• 21 The sciences tell us about the natural world.
• With a common method and goal, science has
proven to be a generally reliable means of
securing knowledge about the world with the
proviso that that knowledge may be refined.
Compare Ethics with
Science
• 21 “Morality, in contrast to science, does not seem
so objective.”
• Ethical Relativism states “Specifically, no realm of
objective moral truth or reality exists that is
comparable to that which we seem to find in the
world of nature investigated by science.”
Two Types of Ethical
Relativism
• 21 Personal or individual ethical relativism.
• Social or cultural ethical relativism.
Individual Ethical
Relativism
• 21 “Ethical judgments and beliefs are the
expressions of the moral outlook and attitudes of
individual persons.”
• We have histories and experience by which we
have acquired our views.
• But to say that our views are right or wrong,
correct or incorrect will not work because that
judgment assumes an objective standard.
Cultural Ethical
Relativism
• 21 “Ethical values vary from society to society and
that the basis for moral judgments lies in these
social or cultural views.”
• “For an individual to decide and do what is right,
he must look to the norms of the society.
• No society’s views are better than any other
society’s.
• One cannot judge another society’s values in any
objective sense.
Reasons Supporting
Ethical Relativism
• 21 “Moral diversity among peoples and cultures”
• 22 We have moral uncertainty about what the
right thing to believe and do is.
• Situational differences make it hard to believe we
could all have the same values.
Moral Diversity
• 22 “It is not only on particular issues like abortion
that sincere people disagree, but also on basic
moral values and principles.”
Moral Uncertainty
• 22 We are uncertain about what the right thing to
believe and do is.
• We are “aware of our personal limitations and the
subjective glance we bring to moral judging”
• “Thus, we distrust our own judgments.”
• “We then generalize and conclude that all moral
judgments are simply personal and subjective
viewpoints.”
Situational Differences
• 22 People, situations, cultures and times differ in
significant ways.
• We find it difficult to imagine that any of our rules
could apply to these situations.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 22 Moral Diversity:
• How widespread is the disagreement?
• What does the fact of disagreement prove?
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 22 Moral Diversity: How widespread is the
disagreement?
• Does disagreement about a moral matter
amount to a moral disagreement?
• CO2 emissions:
• This is a disagreement of fact about whether
CO2 emissions will in fact damage our
atmosphere, not a disagreement about
whether we should allow damage. (chart 23)
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 22 Moral Diversity: How widespread is the
disagreement?
• 22, 23 A moral relativist would need to show a
disagreement about a relative value: health and
peace, honesty and generosity, or people’s rights.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Moral Diversity: “What would disagreement
about basic moral matters prove?”
• “People can disagree about what constitutes the
right thing to do and yet believe that there is a
right thing to do.”
• With respect to the laws of nature, there is basic
agreement, but at the frontier of discovery there
are many competing theories.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Moral Uncertainty: We are often uncertain
about what is the morally best thing to do.
• Whistle blowers are weighing the consequences
of what they do, not whether it is the right thing
to do.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Does that mean just because we are uncertain
about what to do, there is no correct answer to
that dilemma?
• Matters of science and history often eventually
get clarified and settled.
• What about slavery and women’s rights? Are we
perfectly clear about those issues?
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Situational Differences: “Do dramatic
differences in people’s life situations make it
unlikely or impossible for them to have any
common morality?”
• With respect to health as a value: It would be
wrong to forbid a diabetic insulin, but it would be
right to forbid insulin to a non-diabetic.
• With respect to justice: We believe that people
should be treated fairly according to what they
deserve.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Situational Differences:
• “One reason situational differences may lead us to
think that no objective is possible is that we may
be equating objectivism with… absolutism.
• Moral absolutism says that moral rules or
principles have no exceptions and are contextindependent.
Are These Reasons
Convincing?
• 23 Situational Differences:
• 24 Absolutism: Stealing is always wrong.
• The objectivist may suggest that to satisfy hunger,
life may be more important than property.
• Fisherman dies at the stream because of hunting
laws.
Further Considerations
• 24 A problem for both types of relativist lies in
the implied belief that relativism is a more
tolerant position than objectivism.
• However to demand that people be tolerant
implies that there is an objective and transcultural
value of toleration.
Further Considerations
• 24 “If ethical relativism is true, then it cannot be
because the other person’s moral views may be
better than mine in an objective sense.”
• 25 “Objectivists might insist that their position
provides a better basis for believing that tolerance
is an objective and transcultural good…
• …and that we ought to be open to other’s views
because they may be closer to the truth than ours
are.”
What Does
Objectivism Offer?
• 25 Moral Realism
• Realism states that there is a correspondence
between our moral observations and some
objective moral values.
• 26 Is there some value that is objectively good
or behavior objectively bad? What is the test?
• Or are all values merely “reflections or
expressions of individuals or cultures.”
What Does
Objectivism Offer?
• 26 Moral Pluralism
• Is there only one good or many?
• With respect to the Preamble to the
Declaration of Independence, are the rights to
life liberty and the pursuit of happiness all on a
level playing field, or is one more important,
primary, to the others?
Conclusion
• 26 “The purpose of studying ethics, as noted in
Chapter 1, is to improve one’s ability to make
good ethical judgments.”
• “If ethical relativism were true, then this purpose
could not be achieved.”