PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
CD5590
LECTURE 2
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering
Mälardalen University
2005
1
Ethical Relativism,
Absolutism,
and Pluralism
Based on: Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.
Director, The Values Institute
University of San Diego
2
Classical Ethical/Cultural Relativism
The Greek Skeptics (1)

Xenophanes (570-475 BCE)
“Ethiopians say that their gods are flat-nosed and dark, Thracians
that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired. If oxen and horses and
lions had hands and were able to draw with their hands and do the
same things as men, horses would draw the shapes of gods to
look like horses and oxen to look like ox, and each would make
the god’s bodies have the same shape as they themselves had.”

The historian Heroditus(484-425 BCE)
“Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and
the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.”
3
Classical Ethical/Cultural Relativism
The Greek Skeptics (2)

Sextus Empiricus (fl. 200 CE)
Gives example after example of moral standards that
differ from one society to another, such as attitudes
about homosexuality, incest, cannibalism, human
sacrifice, the killing of elderly, infanticide, theft,
consumption of animal flesh…
Sextus Empiricus concludes that we should doubt the
existence of an independent and universal standard of
morality, and instead regard moral values as the result
of cultural preferences.
4
Later Ethical Relativism (1)

French philosopher Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592):
Custom has the power to shape every possible kind of
cultural practice. Although we pretend that morality is a
fixed feature of nature, morality too is formed through
custom.

Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776)
“fashion, vogue, custom, and law are the chief
foundation of all moral determinations”
5
Arguments for Ethical Relativism

Cultural Differences Argument
(1) Different cultures have different moral codes.
(2) Moral opinions vary from culture to culture.
(3) Neither opinion is right or wrong.
_____________________________________
There is no objective truth in morality.
6
Insights of Ethical Relativism
Ethical relativism has several important insights:
 The fact of moral diversity
 The need for tolerance and understanding
 We should not pass judgment on practices in
other cultures when we don’t understand
them
 Sometimes reasonable people may differ on
what’s morally acceptable
7
Three Questions about the Meaning of
Relativism
What part of morality
is relative?
•Behavior
•Peripheral values
Morality is relative.
•Fundamental values
How much of
morality is
relative?
•All
•Most
Relative to
what?
•Individuals
•Cultures
•Nations
•Groups
•Some
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Relative to what?

Descriptive ethical relativists say that
moral values are relative, but to what:
– Culture
– Nation
– Group
– Individual—subjectivism

How do we individuate cultures?
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What is relative?

Behavior
– Different behaviors may exemplify the same value
– The same behavior may exemplify different values
in different culture

Core values
– Are there central values found in all cultures?

Peripheral values
– Obviously some culturally-specific values
10
Ethical Relativism: Limitations

Presupposes an epistemological solipsism*

Is unhelpful in dealing with overlaps of
cultures--precisely where we need help.
– Commerce and trade
– Media
– World Wide Web
[*Solipsism - belief in self as only reality: the belief
that the only thing somebody can be sure of is that he
or she exists, and that true knowledge of anything
else is impossible]
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Ethical Relativism:
Solipsism





Sometimes we say that we
can’t judge other cultures
because we can’t fully
understand them.
Do we need full understanding
to judge something?
Do we even have full
understanding of ourselves?
Would this eliminate
anthropology as a discipline?
Does it deny a main goal of
multiculturalism?
12
Ethical Relativism:
Overlapping Cultures, 1


Ethical relativism
suggests that we let
each culture live as
it sees fit
This is only feasible
when cultures don’t
have to interact with
one another.
13
Ethical Relativism:
Overlapping Cultures, 2

The challenge of the
coming century is
precisely overlapping
cultures:
– Multinational corporations
– International media--BBC,
MTV, CNN
– International sports-Olympics
– World Wide Web
14
Ethical Relativism:
Overlapping Cultures, 3

The actual situation
in today’s world is
much closer to the
diagram at the right.
15
Ethical Relativism:
A Self-Defensive Position


Ethical relativism maintains that we
cannot make moral judgments about
other cultures
The corollary of this is that we are
protected in principle against the
judgments made by other cultures
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Different kids of clothing
Rembrandt
Monk Reading,
1661
Nuns uniforms
Taliban law requires women in
Afghanistan to wear a chador or
burqa that covers the face and
entire body.
A proper dress for her?
Fencer – protective suit
Astronaut – protective suit
From the solitude of the
Holy Cross Abbey in
Berryville, Virginia, a
monk works as an
electronic scrivener on
17
the Internet.
Different kids of clothing
Dieric Bouts - Madonna and Child
Leonardo da Vinci Lady with an
Ermine 1483-90
Catherine of Aragon
in middle age, c. 1525
Jane Seymour by
Holbein,1537
Tudor England dress
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Arguments Against Ethical Relativism




There Are Some Universals in Codes of Behavior across
Cultures
Three core common values:
caring for children
truth telling (trust) and
prohibitions against murder
The society must guard against killing, abusing the young,
lying, breaking promises or other commitments at its own peril.
Were the society not to establish some rules against such
behaviors, the society itself would cease to exist.
19
Ethical Objectivism

The view that moral principles have
objective validity whether or not
people recognize them as such, that
is, moral rightness or wrongness does
not depend on social approval, but on
such independent considerations as
whether the act or principle promotes
human flourishing or ameliorates
human suffering.
Plato (427-347 BCE)
20
Ethical Absolutism/Universalism/Realism

Ethical Absolutism:
Morality is eternal and unchanging and holds for all
rational beings at all times and places. In other
words, moral right and wrong are fundamentally the
same for all people. (Morality is considered different
than mere etiquette).
There is only one correct answer to every moral
problem. A completely absolutist ethic consists of
absolute principles that provide an answer for every
possible situation in life, regardless of culture.
21
Ethical Absolutism



Absolutism comes in many
versions--including the
divine right of kings
Absolutism is less about
what we believe and more
about how we believe it
Common elements:
– There is a single Truth
– Their position embodies that
truth
Louis XIV
(1638 – 1715)
Louis the Great, The Sun King
22
Ethical Absolutism

Ethical absolutism gets some things right
– We need to make judgments
– Certain things are intolerable

But it gets some things wrong, including:
– Our truth is the truth
– We can’t learn from others
23
Ethical Pluralism (1)

Combines insights of both relativism and
absolutism:
– The central challenge: how to live together with
differing and conflicting values
– Fallibilism: recognizes that we might be mistaken
– Sees disagreement as a possible strength
24
Ethical Pluralism (2)

Moral pluralists maintain that there are moral
truths, but they do not form a body of
coherent and consistent truths in the way that
one finds in the science or mathematics.
Moral truths are real, but partial. Moreover,
they are inescapably plural. There are many
moral truths, not just one–and they may
conflict with one another.
25
Ethical Pluralism (3)


Pluralism is the cultural manifestation of
ethical individualism; it is implied by the
respect for the human being, for what it
means to be human.
We have differing moral perspectives,
but we must often inhabit a common
world.
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Ethical Pluralism (4)
Ethical pluralism offers three categories to
describe actions:
 Prohibited: those actions which are not seen
as permissible at all
– Absolutism sees the importance of this

Tolerated: those actions and values in which
legitimate differences are possible
– Relativism sees the importance of this

Ideal: a moral vision of what the ideal society
would be like
27
Ethical Pluralism (5)

For each action or
policy, we can place
it in one of three
regions:
– Ideal--Center
– Permitted--Middle
• Respected
• Tolerated
– Prohibited--Outside
28
Five Questions





What is the present state?
What is the ideal state?
What is the minimally acceptable state?
How do we get from the present to the
minimally acceptable state?
How do we get from the minimum to the
ideal state?
29
Developing a Moral Stance
Here’s a way of visualizing these issues:
30
What is the present state?

1) Overall, the actual state of race and
ethnicity in our society is:
–
–
–
–
–

a)
B
c)
d)
e)
Excellent
Very good
Good
Poor
Terrible
2) List three important facts that support your
evaluation in #1
– a)
– b)
– c)
31
What is the present state?--#2

#3. What are the three most important
issues facing us in regard to race and
ethnicity today?
– a)
– b)
– c)
32
What is the minimally acceptable
state?

What are the minimum conditions
necessary for a just society in regard to
race and ethnicity? List at least three
characteristics or conditions.
– #1
– #2
– #3
33
What is the ideal state?

What are the ideal conditions necessary
for a just society in regard to race and
ethnicity? List at least three
characteristics or conditions.
– #1
– #2
– #3
34
How should we get from the present
to the minimally acceptable state?

How should we get from the actual
state to the minimally acceptable
state? List specific ways of getting
from the actual state of society to the
minimal conditions listed earlier.
– Examples: laws, taxes, regulations,
protests, civil disobedience
35
How should we get from the present
to the ideal state?

How should we get from the actual state
to the ideal state? List specific ways of
getting from the actual state of society
to the ideal conditions listed above.
– Examples: Public relations campaigns,
education, tax incentives, laws
36
Appendix
Developing Moral Common Ground
Goals

Understanding
– ourselves
– others
– the issue

Common Ground
– agreement where appropriate
– living with some disagreements
– changing the situation
37