✍️✍️✍️ Ethical Relativism Analysis
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Ethical Relativism
Nor need we passively accept the moral norms of our own respective societies, to the extent that they are ineffective or counterproductive or simply unnecessary". We can also criticize other cultures for failing to pursue even their own goals effectively. The moral relativists may also still try to make sense of non-universal statements like "in this country, it is wrong to do X" or even "to me, it is right to do Y". Moral universalists argue further that their system often does justify tolerance, and that disagreement with moral systems does not always demand interference, and certainly not aggressive interference. Moral relativism encompasses views and arguments that people in various cultures have held over several thousand years.
For example, the ancient Jaina Anekantavada principle of Mahavira c. Sextus Empiricus and other ancient Pyrrhonist philosophers denied the existence of objective morality. In the early modern era Baruch Spinoza — notably held that nothing is inherently good or evil. He distinguished between matters of fact and matters of value, and suggested that moral judgments consist of the latter, for they do not deal with verifiable facts obtained in the world, but only with our sentiments and passions. But Hume regarded some of our sentiments as universal.
He famously denied that morality has any objective standard, and suggested that the universe remains indifferent to our preferences and our troubles. Friedrich Nietzsche — believed that we have to assess the value of our values since values are relative to one's goals and one's self. He emphasized the need to analyze our moral values and how much impact they may have on us. The problem with morality, according to Nietzsche, is that those who were considered "good" were the powerful nobles who had more education, and considered themselves better than anyone below their rank.
Thus, what is considered good is relative. A "good man" is not questioned on whether or not there is a "bad", such as temptations, lingering inside him and he is considered to be more important than a man who is considered "bad" who is considered useless to making the human race better because of the morals we have subjected ourselves to. But since what is considered good and bad is relative, the importance and value we place on them should also be relative. He proposed that morality itself could be a danger.
One scholar, supporting an anti-realist interpretation, concludes that "Nietzsche's central argument for anti-realism about value is explanatory: moral facts don't figure in the 'best explanation' of experience, and so are not real constituents of the objective world. Moral values , in short, can be 'explained away. It is certain that Nietzsche criticizes Plato's prioritization of transcendence as the Forms. The Platonist view holds that what is 'true', or most real, is something which is other-worldly while the real world of experience is like a mere 'shadow' of the Forms, most famously expressed in Plato's allegory of the cave.
Nietzsche believes that this transcendence also had a parallel growth in Christianity , which prioritized life-denying moral qualities such as humility and obedience through the church. Anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict — have cautioned observers against ethnocentricism —using the standards of their own culture to evaluate their subjects of study. Benedict said that transcendent morals do not exist—only socially constructed customs do see cultural relativism ; and that in comparing customs, the anthropologist "insofar as he remains an anthropologist This led some to posit that differing systems have equal validity, with no standard for adjudicating among conflicting beliefs.
The Finnish philosopher-anthropologist Edward Westermarck — ranks as one of the first to formulate a detailed theory of moral relativism. He portrayed all moral ideas as subjective judgments that reflect one's upbringing. He rejected G. Moore 's — ethical intuitionism —in vogue during the early part of the 20th century, and which identified moral propositions as true or false, and known to us through a special faculty of intuition—because of the obvious differences in beliefs among societies, which he said provided evidence of the lack of any innate, intuitive power.
Research within evolutionary biology , evolutionary psychology , ethology , and evolutionary anthropology has shown that morality is a natural phenomenon that was shaped by evolutionary mechanisms. The literary perspectivism begins at the different versions of the Greek myths. Symbolism created multiple suggestions for a vers. Structuralism teaches us the polysemy of the poems. Or Nuria Perpinya 's twenty literary interpretations of the Odyssey. Some philosophers, for example R. Hare — , argue that moral propositions remain subject to human logical rules, notwithstanding the absence of any factual content, including those subject to cultural or religious standards or norms. Thus, for example, they contend that one cannot hold contradictory ethical judgments.
This allows for moral discourse with shared standards, notwithstanding the descriptive properties or truth conditions of moral terms. They do not affirm or deny that moral facts exist, only that human logic applies to our moral assertions; consequently, they postulate an objective and preferred standard of moral justification, albeit in a very limited sense. Nevertheless, according to Hare, human logic shows the error of relativism in one very important sense see Hare's Sorting out Ethics. Hare and other philosophers also point out that, aside from logical constraints, all systems treat certain moral terms alike in an evaluative sense.
This parallels our treatment of other terms such as less or more , which meet with universal understanding and do not depend upon independent standards for example, one can convert measurements. It applies to good and bad when used in their non-moral sense, too; for example, when we say, "this is a good wrench" or "this is a bad wheel". This evaluative property of certain terms also allows people of different beliefs to have meaningful discussions on moral questions, even though they may disagree about certain "facts".
Critics propose that moral relativism fails because it rejects basic premises of discussions on morality, or because it cannot arbitrate disagreement. Many critics, including Ibn Warraq and Eddie Tabash , have suggested that meta-ethical relativists essentially take themselves out of any discussion of normative morality, since they seem to be rejecting an assumption of such discussions: the premise that there are right and wrong answers that can be discovered through reason. Practically speaking, such critics will argue that meta-ethical relativism may amount to moral nihilism , or else incoherence. These critics argue specifically that the moral relativists reduce the extent of their input in normative moral discussions to either rejecting the very having of the discussion, or else deeming both disagreeing parties to be correct.
For instance, the moral relativist can only appeal to preference to object to the practice of murder or torture by individuals for hedonistic pleasure. Philosopher Simon Blackburn made a similar criticism, [25] and explains that moral relativism fails as a moral system simply because it cannot arbitrate disagreements. Some arguments come when people question which moral justifications or truths are said to be relative. Because people belong to many groups based on culture, race, religion, etc. A part of meta-ethical relativism is identifying which group of people those truths are relative to. Another component is that many people belong to more than one group. The beliefs of the groups that a person belongs to may be fundamentally different, and so it is hard to decide which are relative and which win out.
A person practicing meta-ethical relativism would not necessarily object to either view, but develop an opinion and argument. Catholic and some secular intellectuals attribute the perceived post- war decadence of Europe to the displacement of absolute values by moral relativism. Pope Benedict XVI , Marcello Pera and others have argued that after about , Europeans massively abandoned many traditional norms rooted in Christianity and replaced them with continuously evolving relative moral rules. In this view, sexual activity has become separated from procreation, which led to a decline in the importance of families and to depopulation.
Many of the main criticisms of moral relativism by the Catholic Church relate largely to modern controversies, such as elective abortion. Bhikkhu Bodhi , an American Buddhist monk, has written: "By assigning value and spiritual ideals to private subjectivity, the materialistic world view The result is the widespread moral degeneration that we witness today. To counter this tendency, mere moral exhortation is insufficient. If morality is to function as an efficient guide to conduct, it cannot be propounded as a self-justifying scheme but must be embedded in a more comprehensive spiritual system which grounds morality in a transpersonal order. Religion must affirm, in the clearest terms, that morality and ethical values are not mere decorative frills of personal opinion, not subjective superstructure, but intrinsic laws of the cosmos built into the heart of reality.
Moral relativism is a distinct position from ethical subjectivism the view that the truth of ethical claims are not mind independent. However, someone who thinks that what is right and wrong is whatever a deity thinks is right or wrong would be a subjectivist morality is based on mental states , but not a relativist morality is the same for everyone. Depending on how a moral relativist position is constructed, it may or may not be independent of moral realism. While many moral relativists deny one or more of these claims, and therefore could be considered moral anti-realists , a denial is not required. However, this view is a relativist one as it is dependent on the country you are a citizen of.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Philosophical positions about the differences in moral judgments across peoples and cultures. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. See also: Evolution of morality. See also: Universal prescriptivism. Ethics Unwrapped. Retrieved Consequences of Pragmatism. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN Retrieved May 10, Adam Zalta, Edward N. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Conversation. July, pp. That plea was granted in June , setting the precedent that women refugees who flee persecution related to their gender-in this case genital mutilation-are entitled to protection under U.
During the extensive publicity surrounding Fauziya's case, I was interviewed frequently by TV, radio, and print journalists. On a number of occasions, I was asked what right I had to judge or condemn the cultural practices of polygamy and FGM. I was sometimes accused of being a "cultural imperialist" by imposing my Western concept of human rights on a very different culture and country. In the context of representing Fauziya in her request for asylum, I felt there was a relatively easy response to these accusations of cultural imperialism: namely, that it was Fauziya herself who had disagreed with and resisted the practices of her own culture.
Once she had made this decision, my role was simply to support her in her profound desire not to be subjected to FGM or forced into a polygamous marriage. But answering in the context of Fauziya's request for asylum does not resolve the broader question. What is to be done when generally accepted international human rights standards conflict with long-standing cultural practices? Female genital mutilation has been condemned as a violation of internationally protected human rights, yet it continues to be an integral part of many African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures.
More generally, equality for women is an internationally proclaimed human right and is set forth in many treaties, including the Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women, which prohibits distinctions made on the basis of gender. However, many cultures continue to deny women equal rights. For example, in many countries, Islam is interpreted to restrict the rights of women. Is it disrespectful of their cultures and religion to find these Islamic countries in violation of international human rights standards because of their treatment of women? These issues are at the heart of a long-standing controversy between the concepts of the universality of human rights and cultural relativism. Proponents of universality maintain that the human rights that have been guaranteed in international treaties and conventions are universal, apply to all countries, and must prevail even when they conflict with cultural or religious practices.
In contrast, advocates of cultural relativism argue that permitting international norms to override the dictates of culture and religion is a violation of state sovereignty. As individuals think about these two opposing positions and determine which is more morally compelling, they may be assisted by examining the origins and objectives of international human rights norms and by considering additional examples where international norms and culture are in conflict. Modern international human rights law traces its origins to the post-World War II period, when countries acknowledged the profound need for an international consensus regarding the protection of basic human rights. The fact that so many nations did not intervene in a timely manner or at all as the Nazis repressed, persecuted, and then exterminated millions of people was evidence to the world community of its tragic failure.
The formation of the United Nations in was a response to the unthinkable atrocities of the Holocaust and the failure of the international community to act. The United Nations and associated human rights measures were created for the purpose of putting some substance behind the refrain "never again. The U. Charter identifies one of the organization's primary objectives as "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
Under the aegis of the United Nations, numerous human rights declarations, treaties, and conventions were drafted. One of the most fundamental declarations adopted by the U. It sets forth the basic rights and freedoms that the international community committed itself to respecting and protecting. The declaration's preamble states that it is to serve "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. The Universal Declaration has been followed by a number of treaties that elaborate on its basic rights and freedoms.
These treaties protect civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. They prohibit governments from interfering with freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or from engaging in actions such as torture and genocide. The treaties also prohibit racial and gender discrimination. Yet, often, the rights and freedoms guaranteed in these international treaties and conventions are in direct conflict with cultural or religious practices such as FGM.
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women condemns FGM as an act of violence against women and states that countries "should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination. There are countless other examples of state practices that violate the internationally protected rights of women.
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