fbpx
Wikipedia

Moral relativism

Moral relativism or ethical relativism (often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality) is used to describe several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different peoples and cultures. An advocate of such ideas is often referred to as a relativist.

Descriptive moral relativism holds that people do, in fact, disagree fundamentally about what is moral, without passing any evaluative or normative judgments about this disagreement. Meta-ethical moral relativism holds that in such disagreements, nobody is objectively right or wrong.[1] Normative moral relativism holds that because nobody is right or wrong, everyone ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when large disagreements about morality exist.[2] Said concepts of the different intellectual movements involve considerable nuance and aren't absolute descriptions. Descriptive relativists do not necessarily adopt meta-ethical relativism. Moreover, not all meta-ethical relativists adopt normative relativism.[3]

American philosopher Richard Rorty in particular has argued that the label of being a "relativist" has become warped and turned into a sort of pejorative. He has written specifically that thinkers labeled as such usually simply believe "that the grounds for choosing between such [philosophical] opinions is less algorithmic than had been thought", not that every single conceptual idea is as valid as any other. In this spirit, Rorty has lamented that "philosophers have... become increasingly isolated from the rest of culture."[4]

Moral relativism has been debated for thousands of years across a variety of contexts during the history of civilization. Arguments of particular notability have been made in areas such as ancient Greece[5] and historical India while discussions have continued to the present day. Besides the material created by philosophers, the concept has additionally attracted attention in diverse fields including art, religion, and science.[citation needed]

Variations edit

Descriptive edit

Descriptive moral relativism is merely the positive or descriptive position that there exist, in fact, fundamental disagreements about the right course of action even when the same facts hold true and the same consequences seem likely to arise.[6] It is the observation that different cultures have different moral standards.

Descriptive relativists do not necessarily advocate the tolerance of all behavior in light of such disagreement; that is to say, they are not necessarily normative relativists. Likewise, they do not necessarily make any commitments to the semantics, ontology, or epistemology of moral judgement; that is, not all descriptive relativists are meta-ethical relativists.

Descriptive relativism is a widespread position in academic fields such as anthropology and sociology, which simply admit that it is incorrect to assume that the same moral or ethical frameworks are always in play in all historical and cultural circumstances.[7]

Meta-ethical edit

Meta-ethical moral relativists believe not only that people disagree about moral issues, but that terms such as "good", "bad", "right" and "wrong" do not stand subject to universal truth conditions at all; rather, they are relative to the traditions, convictions, or practices of an individual or a group of people.[6] The American anthropologist William Graham Sumner was an influential advocate of this view. He argues in his 1906 work Folkways that what people consider right and wrong is shaped entirely—not primarily—by the traditions, customs, and practices of their culture. Moreover, since in his analysis of human understanding there cannot be any higher moral standard than that provided by the local morals of a culture, no trans-cultural judgement about the rightness or wrongness of a culture's morals could possibly be justified.[citation needed]

Meta-ethical relativists are, first, descriptive relativists: they believe that, given the same set of facts, some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what a person ought to do or prefer (based on societal or individual norms). What's more, they argue that one cannot adjudicate these disagreements using any available independent standard of evaluation—any appeal to a relevant standard would always be merely personal or at best societal.[citation needed]

This view contrasts with moral universalism, which argues that, even though well-intentioned persons disagree, and some may even remain unpersuadable (e.g. someone who is closed-minded), there is still a meaningful sense in which an action could be more "moral" (morally preferable) than another; that is, they believe there are objective standards of evaluation that seem worth calling "moral facts"—regardless of whether they are universally accepted.[citation needed]

Normative edit

Normative moral relativists believe not only the meta-ethical thesis, but that it has normative implications on what we ought to do. Normative moral relativists argue that meta-ethical relativism implies that we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when it runs counter to our personal or cultural moral standards. Most philosophers do not agree, partially because of the challenges of arriving at an "ought" from relativistic premises.[8] Meta-ethical relativism seems to eliminate the normative relativist's ability to make prescriptive claims. In other words, normative relativism may find it difficult to make a statement like "we think it is moral to tolerate behaviour" without always adding "other people think intolerance of certain behaviours is moral".[9] Philosophers like Russell Blackford even argue that intolerance is, to some degree, important. As he puts it, "we need not adopt a quietism about moral traditions that cause hardship and suffering. 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".[10] That is, it is perfectly reasonable (and practical) for a person or group to defend their subjective values against others, even if there is no universal prescription or morality. We can also criticize other cultures for failing to pursue even their own goals effectively.[11]

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".[8]

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.[8] For example, the utilitarian might call another society's practice 'ignorant' or 'less moral', but there would still be much debate about courses of action (e.g. whether to focus on providing better education, or technology, etc.).[12]

History edit

 
While Scottish philosopher David Hume did not espouse relativist views of morality per se and held nuanced opinions, his thinking has been widely influential in the development of relativism.[citation needed]

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. 599–527 BC) states that truth and reality are perceived differently from diverse points of view, and that no single point of view is the complete truth;[13][14] and the Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 481–420 BC) famously asserted that "man is the measure of all things".[15][16] The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–420 BC) observed that each society regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than all others. Sextus Empiricus and other ancient Pyrrhonist philosophers denied the existence of objective morality.[17]

In the early modern era Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) notably held that nothing is inherently good or evil.[18] The 18th-century Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) serves in several important respects as the father both of modern emotivism and of moral relativism, though Hume himself did not espouse relativism. 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.[citation needed]

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) 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.[19] Nietzsche believed that morals should be constructed actively, making them relative to who we are and what we, as individuals, consider to be true, equal, good and bad, etc. instead of reacting to moral laws made by a certain group of individuals in power.[20]

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.'"[21]

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. (See Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, etc.)[citation needed]

Anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict (1887–1948) 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 ... is bound to avoid any weighting of one in favor of the other".[citation needed] To some extent, the increasing body of knowledge of great differences in belief among societies caused both social scientists and philosophers to question whether any objective, absolute standards pertaining to values could exist. 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 (1862–1939) 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.E. Moore's (1873–1958) 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.[citation needed]

Arguments for meta-ethical relativism edit

Scientific edit

Morality and evolution edit

Research within evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, ethology, and evolutionary anthropology has claimed that morality is a natural phenomenon that was shaped by evolutionary mechanisms.[22] In this case, morality is defined as the set of relative social practices that promote the survival and successful reproduction of the species, or even multiple cooperating species.[23]

Literary edit

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.[citation needed]

Examples of relativistic literary works[citation needed]: Gogol's Dead Souls; The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell; Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le métro.

Criticisms of meta-ethical relativism edit

Philosophical edit

R. M. Hare edit

Some philosophers, for example R. M. Hare (1919–2002), 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".[citation needed]

Walter Terence Stace edit

"Ethical Relativity" is the topic of the first two chapters in The Concept of Morals, in which Walter Terence Stace argues against moral absolutism, but for moral universalism.[24][25]

Philosophical poverty edit

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.[26]

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.[27] This accusation that relativists reject widely held terms of discourse is similar to arguments used against other "discussion-stoppers" like some forms of solipsism or the rejection of induction.[citation needed]

Philosopher Simon Blackburn made a similar criticism,[28] and explains that moral relativism fails as a moral system simply because it cannot arbitrate disagreements.[29]

Other criticism edit

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., it is difficult to claim that the values of the group have authority for the members. 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.[30]

Religious edit

Protestantism edit


Roman Catholicism edit

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 1960, 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.[31] The most authoritative response to moral relativism from the Catholic perspective can be found in Veritatis Splendor, an encyclical by Pope John Paul II. Many of the main criticisms of moral relativism by the Catholic Church relate largely to modern controversies, such as elective abortion.

Buddhism edit

Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American Buddhist monk, has written:

By assigning value and spiritual ideals to private subjectivity, the materialistic world view ... threatens to undermine any secure objective foundation for morality. 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.[32]

Views commonly confused with moral relativism edit

Moral relativism vs ethical subjectivism edit

Moral relativism is a distinct position from ethical subjectivism (the view that the truth of ethical claims are not mind independent).[33][34] While these views are often held together, they do not entail each other.[33] For example, someone who claims "something is morally right for me to do because the people in my culture think it is right" is both a moral relativist (because what is right and wrong depends on who is doing it), and an ethical subjectivist (because what is right and wrong is determined by mental states, i.e. what people think is right and wrong).[35]

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).[36] In contrast, someone who claims that to act ethically you must follow the laws of your country would be a relativist (morality is dependent on who you are), but not a subjectivist (morality is based on facts about the world, not mental states).[37]

Moral relativism vs moral anti-realism edit

Depending on how a moral relativist position is constructed, it may or may not be independent of moral realism.[37] Moral realists are committed to some version of the following three claims:[38][39]

  1. Semantic thesis: Moral statements have meaning, they express propositions, or are the kind of things that can be true or false.
  2. Alethic thesis: Some moral propositions are true.
  3. Metaphysical thesis: The metaphysical status of moral facts is robust and ordinary, not importantly different from other facts about the world.

While many moral relativists deny one or more of these claims, and therefore could be moral anti-realists, a denial is not required.[35] A moral relativist who claims that you should act according to the laws in whatever country you are a citizen of, accepts all three claims: moral facts express propositions that can be true or false (you can see if a given action is against the law or not), some moral propositions are true (some actions abide by the laws in someone's country), and moral facts are ordinary (laws are not mental states, they are physical objects in the world). However, this view is a relativist one as it is dependent on the country you are a citizen of.[37]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Moral Relativism". Ethics Unwrapped. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. ^ "Moral Relativism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". www.iep.utm.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  3. ^ Gowans, Chris (2019), "Moral Relativism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-05-28
  4. ^ Rorty, Richard (1982). Consequences of Pragmatism. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 166–169. ISBN 0816610649.
  5. ^ Wolfe, Kyle. "The Ancient Greek Civilization". Bartleby.com.
  6. ^ a b Swoyer, Chris (February 22, 2003). "Relativism". Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  7. ^ Baghramian, Maria; Carter, J.Adam (2020-09-21). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Relativism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  8. ^ a b c Gowans, Chris (15 October 2017). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  9. ^ Witenberg, Rivka T. "Tolerance is more than putting up with things – it's a moral virtue". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  10. ^ at the end of his review at http://jetpress.org/v21/blackford3.htm
  11. ^ Gowans, Chris (2004-02-19). "Moral Relativism". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ "Introduction to Utilitarianism – Utilitarianism.net". Utilitarianism. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  13. ^ Dundas, Paul (2002) p. 231
  14. ^ Koller, John M. (July, 2000) pp. 400–07
  15. ^ "Protagoras | Greek philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  16. ^ "Protagoras of Abdera: Of All Things Man Is The Measure". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  17. ^ Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism Book III, Chapter 21
  18. ^ Kelley L. Ross (1999). "Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)". History of Philosophy As I See It. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  19. ^ Smith, Douglas (2008). Friedrich Nietzsche. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 362–363.
  20. ^ Spinks, Lee (2003). Friedrich Nietzsche. Florence, KY: Routledge. pp. 5.
  21. ^ Brian Leiter, "Nietzsche's Moral and Political Philosophy" article link at Stanford Encyclopedia
  22. ^ Joyce, Richard (2006). The Evolution of Morality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-10112-7. evolution of morality joyce.
  23. ^ Shermer, Michael (2004). "Transcendent Morality". The Science of Good and Evil. ISBN 0-8050-7520-8. Given this presupposition, it seems reasonable to be both a transcendentalist and an empiricist, or what I call a transcendent empiricist.
  24. ^ Stace, Walter T. (1975) [1937]. The Concept of Morals. New York: The MacMillan Company. p. 67. ISBN 0-8446-2990-1.
  25. ^ Baghramian, Maria; Carter, J. Adam (2019), "Relativism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-05-28
  26. ^ "Moral Relativism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". www.iep.utm.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  27. ^ . Archived from the original on 2009-11-18.
  28. ^ "Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism". philosophy bites.
  29. ^ Blackburn, Simon (1998). "Review of Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 58 (1): 195–198. doi:10.2307/2653640. ISSN 0031-8205. JSTOR 2653640.
  30. ^ Gowans, Chris (2015-01-01). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Moral Relativism (Fall 2015 ed.).
  31. ^ Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, Marcello Pera, Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (Basic Books, 2006. ISBN 0-465-00634-5).
  32. ^ Bhikkhu Bodhi, "A Buddhist Response to Contemporary Dilemmas of Human Existence" article link at Access to Insight
  33. ^ a b Joyce, Richard (2016), "Moral Anti-Realism (Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism)", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-03-08, In short, the non-objectivism vs. objectivism and the relativism vs. absolutism polarities are orthogonal to each other, and it is the former pair that is usually taken to matter when it comes to characterizing anti-realism.
  34. ^ Harrison, Jonathan (2006). Borchert, Donald M. (ed.). Encyclopedia of philosophy (2nd ed.). Detroit: Thomson Gale/Macmillan Reference USA. ISBN 0-02-865780-2. OCLC 61151356. A subjectivist ethical theorist is a theory according to which moral judgements about men or their actions are judgements about the way people react to these men and actions - that is, the way they think or feel about them.
  35. ^ a b Joyce, Richard (2016), "Moral Anti-Realism (Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism)", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-03-08, In all cases, it may be that what determines the difference in the relevant contexts is something "mind-dependent"—in which case it would be anti-realist relativism—but it need not be; perhaps what determines the relevant difference is an entirely mind-independent affair, making for an objectivist (and potentially realist) relativism.
  36. ^ Joyce, Richard (2016), "Moral Anti-Realism (Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism)", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-03-08, ...the non-objectivist need not be a relativist. Suppose the moral facts depend on the attitudes or opinions of a particular group or individual (e.g., "X is good" means "Caesar approves of X," or "The Supreme Court rules in favor of X," etc.), and thus moral truth is an entirely mind-dependent affair. Since, in this case, all speakers' moral utterances are made true or false by the same mental activity, then this is not strictly speaking a version of relativism, but is, rather, a relation-designating account of moral terms (see Stevenson 1963: 74 for this distinction).
  37. ^ a b c Joyce, Richard (2016), "Moral Anti-Realism (Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism)", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-03-08, In short, the non-objectivism vs. objectivism and the relativism vs. absolutism polarities are orthogonal to each other, and it is the former pair that is usually taken to matter when it comes to characterizing anti-realism. Moral relativism is sometimes thought of as a version of anti-realism, but (short of stipulating usage) there is no basis for this classification; it is better to say that some versions of relativism may be anti-realist and others may be realist.
  38. ^ Joyce, Richard (2016), "Moral Anti-Realism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2021-03-08
  39. ^ Vayrynen, Pekka (2006). Encyclopedia of philosophy. Donald M. Borchert (2nd ed.). Detroit: Thomson Gale/Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 379–382. ISBN 0-02-865780-2. OCLC 61151356. No single description is likely to capture all realist views, but a reasonably accurate rule is to understand moral realism as the conjunction of three theses: The semantic thesis: The primary semantic role of moral predicates (such as "right" and "wrong") is to refer to moral properties (such as rightness and wrongness), so that moral statements (such as "honesty is good" and "slavery is unjust") purport to represent moral facts, and express propositions that are true or false (or approximately true, largely false and so on). The alethic thesis: Some moral propositions are in fact true. The metaphysical thesis: Moral propositions are true when actions and other objects of moral assessment have the relevant moral properties (so that the relevant moral facts obtain), where these facts and properties are robust: their metaphysical status, whatever it is, is not relevantly different from that of (certain types of ordinary non-moral facts and properties).

Bibliography edit

  • Guy Ankerl, Global Communication without Universal Civilization. vol I: Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. (Geneva, INUPRESS, 2000. ISBN 2-88155-004-5)
  • Joxe Azurmendi 1998: "The violence and the search for new values" in Euskal Herria krisian, (Elkar, 1999), pp. 11–116. ISBN 84-8331-572-6
  • Kurt Baier, "Difficulties in the Emotive-Imperative Theory" in Paul W Taylor (editor): The Moral Judgement: Readings in Contemporary Meta-Ethics Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963
  • Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture (mentor)
  • Panayot Butchvarov, "Skepticism in Ethics" (Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1989).
  • Ronald F. Duska, "What's the Point of a Business Ethics Course?", 1 Business Ethics Quarterly 335–352(1991), reprinted in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), pp. 11–21.
  • R.M. Hare, Sorting out Ethics (Oxford University Press)
  • Gilbert Harman & Judith Jarvis Thomson, Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity (Blackwell Publishing), 1996.
  • Sterling Harwood, "Taking Ethics Seriously -- Moral Relativism versus Moral Realism" in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), pp. 2–4.
  • Sterling Harwood, "Against MacIntyre's Relativistic Communitarianism" in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), pp. 5–10.
  • David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, ed. Tom L. Beauchamp (Oxford University Press)
  • Steven Lukes, Moral Relativism, Picador,2008.
  • G.E. Moore, Principia Ethica (Cambridge University Press)
  • Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism" in Existentialism From Dostoevsky to Sartre, ed. by Walter Kaufmann (World Publishing Company)
  • Walter Terence Stace, The Concept of Morals, (The MacMillan Company, 1937, reprinted, 1975 by Permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., (Macmillan Publishers), ISBN 0-8446-2990-1), See Chapters 1 and 2 entitled "Ethical Relativity", pp 1–68.
  • Leo Strauss, The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism, ed. Thomas L. Pangle (University of Chicago Press)
  • Edward Westermarck, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas Macmillan, 1906.
  • Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (Harvard University Press)
  • David B. Wong, Moral Relativity (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986), 248 pages.
  • Paul Julian. Minimal Truth, Moral Conflict and Metaethical Relativism. 2006.

External links edit


moral, relativism, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, october,. 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 Find sources Moral relativism news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2011 Learn how and when to remove this message Moral relativism or ethical relativism often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality is used to describe several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different peoples and cultures An advocate of such ideas is often referred to as a relativist Descriptive moral relativism holds that people do in fact disagree fundamentally about what is moral without passing any evaluative or normative judgments about this disagreement Meta ethical moral relativism holds that in such disagreements nobody is objectively right or wrong 1 Normative moral relativism holds that because nobody is right or wrong everyone ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when large disagreements about morality exist 2 Said concepts of the different intellectual movements involve considerable nuance and aren t absolute descriptions Descriptive relativists do not necessarily adopt meta ethical relativism Moreover not all meta ethical relativists adopt normative relativism 3 American philosopher Richard Rorty in particular has argued that the label of being a relativist has become warped and turned into a sort of pejorative He has written specifically that thinkers labeled as such usually simply believe that the grounds for choosing between such philosophical opinions is less algorithmic than had been thought not that every single conceptual idea is as valid as any other In this spirit Rorty has lamented that philosophers have become increasingly isolated from the rest of culture 4 Moral relativism has been debated for thousands of years across a variety of contexts during the history of civilization Arguments of particular notability have been made in areas such as ancient Greece 5 and historical India while discussions have continued to the present day Besides the material created by philosophers the concept has additionally attracted attention in diverse fields including art religion and science citation needed Contents 1 Variations 1 1 Descriptive 1 2 Meta ethical 1 3 Normative 2 History 3 Arguments for meta ethical relativism 3 1 Scientific 3 1 1 Morality and evolution 3 2 Literary 4 Criticisms of meta ethical relativism 4 1 Philosophical 4 1 1 R M Hare 4 1 2 Walter Terence Stace 4 1 3 Philosophical poverty 4 1 4 Other criticism 4 2 Religious 4 2 1 Protestantism 4 2 2 Roman Catholicism 4 2 3 Buddhism 5 Views commonly confused with moral relativism 5 1 Moral relativism vs ethical subjectivism 5 2 Moral relativism vs moral anti realism 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External linksVariations editDescriptive edit Descriptive moral relativism is merely the positive or descriptive position that there exist in fact fundamental disagreements about the right course of action even when the same facts hold true and the same consequences seem likely to arise 6 It is the observation that different cultures have different moral standards Descriptive relativists do not necessarily advocate the tolerance of all behavior in light of such disagreement that is to say they are not necessarily normative relativists Likewise they do not necessarily make any commitments to the semantics ontology or epistemology of moral judgement that is not all descriptive relativists are meta ethical relativists Descriptive relativism is a widespread position in academic fields such as anthropology and sociology which simply admit that it is incorrect to assume that the same moral or ethical frameworks are always in play in all historical and cultural circumstances 7 Meta ethical edit Meta ethical moral relativists believe not only that people disagree about moral issues but that terms such as good bad right and wrong do not stand subject to universal truth conditions at all rather they are relative to the traditions convictions or practices of an individual or a group of people 6 The American anthropologist William Graham Sumner was an influential advocate of this view He argues in his 1906 work Folkways that what people consider right and wrong is shaped entirely not primarily by the traditions customs and practices of their culture Moreover since in his analysis of human understanding there cannot be any higher moral standard than that provided by the local morals of a culture no trans cultural judgement about the rightness or wrongness of a culture s morals could possibly be justified citation needed Meta ethical relativists are first descriptive relativists they believe that given the same set of facts some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what a person ought to do or prefer based on societal or individual norms What s more they argue that one cannot adjudicate these disagreements using any available independent standard of evaluation any appeal to a relevant standard would always be merely personal or at best societal citation needed This view contrasts with moral universalism which argues that even though well intentioned persons disagree and some may even remain unpersuadable e g someone who is closed minded there is still a meaningful sense in which an action could be more moral morally preferable than another that is they believe there are objective standards of evaluation that seem worth calling moral facts regardless of whether they are universally accepted citation needed Normative edit Normative moral relativists believe not only the meta ethical thesis but that it has normative implications on what we ought to do Normative moral relativists argue that meta ethical relativism implies that we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when it runs counter to our personal or cultural moral standards Most philosophers do not agree partially because of the challenges of arriving at an ought from relativistic premises 8 Meta ethical relativism seems to eliminate the normative relativist s ability to make prescriptive claims In other words normative relativism may find it difficult to make a statement like we think it is moral to tolerate behaviour without always adding other people think intolerance of certain behaviours is moral 9 Philosophers like Russell Blackford even argue that intolerance is to some degree important As he puts it we need not adopt a quietism about moral traditions that cause hardship and suffering 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 10 That is it is perfectly reasonable and practical for a person or group to defend their subjective values against others even if there is no universal prescription or morality We can also criticize other cultures for failing to pursue even their own goals effectively 11 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 8 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 8 For example the utilitarian might call another society s practice ignorant or less moral but there would still be much debate about courses of action e g whether to focus on providing better education or technology etc 12 History edit nbsp While Scottish philosopher David Hume did not espouse relativist views of morality per se and held nuanced opinions his thinking has been widely influential in the development of relativism citation needed 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 599 527 BC states that truth and reality are perceived differently from diverse points of view and that no single point of view is the complete truth 13 14 and the Greek philosopher Protagoras c 481 420 BC famously asserted that man is the measure of all things 15 16 The Greek historian Herodotus c 484 420 BC observed that each society regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than all others Sextus Empiricus and other ancient Pyrrhonist philosophers denied the existence of objective morality 17 In the early modern era Baruch Spinoza 1632 1677 notably held that nothing is inherently good or evil 18 The 18th century Enlightenment philosopher David Hume 1711 1776 serves in several important respects as the father both of modern emotivism and of moral relativism though Hume himself did not espouse relativism 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 citation needed Friedrich Nietzsche 1844 1900 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 19 Nietzsche believed that morals should be constructed actively making them relative to who we are and what we as individuals consider to be true equal good and bad etc instead of reacting to moral laws made by a certain group of individuals in power 20 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 21 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 See Beyond Good and Evil On the Genealogy of Morals The Twilight of the Idols The Antichrist etc citation needed Anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict 1887 1948 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 is bound to avoid any weighting of one in favor of the other citation needed To some extent the increasing body of knowledge of great differences in belief among societies caused both social scientists and philosophers to question whether any objective absolute standards pertaining to values could exist 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 1862 1939 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 E Moore s 1873 1958 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 citation needed Arguments for meta ethical relativism editScientific edit Morality and evolution edit See also Evolution of morality Research within evolutionary biology cognitive psychology ethology and evolutionary anthropology has claimed that morality is a natural phenomenon that was shaped by evolutionary mechanisms 22 In this case morality is defined as the set of relative social practices that promote the survival and successful reproduction of the species or even multiple cooperating species 23 Literary edit 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 citation needed Examples of relativistic literary works citation needed Gogol s Dead Souls The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell Raymond Queneau s Zazie dans le metro Criticisms of meta ethical relativism editPhilosophical edit R M Hare edit See also Universal prescriptivism Some philosophers for example R M Hare 1919 2002 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 citation needed Walter Terence Stace edit Ethical Relativity is the topic of the first two chapters in The Concept of Morals in which Walter Terence Stace argues against moral absolutism but for moral universalism 24 25 Philosophical poverty edit 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 26 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 27 This accusation that relativists reject widely held terms of discourse is similar to arguments used against other discussion stoppers like some forms of solipsism or the rejection of induction citation needed Philosopher Simon Blackburn made a similar criticism 28 and explains that moral relativism fails as a moral system simply because it cannot arbitrate disagreements 29 Other criticism edit 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 it is difficult to claim that the values of the group have authority for the members 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 30 Religious edit Protestantism edit See also Protestantism Roman Catholicism edit See also Relativism Catholic Church and relativism 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 1960 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 31 The most authoritative response to moral relativism from the Catholic perspective can be found in Veritatis Splendor an encyclical by Pope John Paul II Many of the main criticisms of moral relativism by the Catholic Church relate largely to modern controversies such as elective abortion Buddhism edit Bhikkhu Bodhi an American Buddhist monk has written By assigning value and spiritual ideals to private subjectivity the materialistic world view threatens to undermine any secure objective foundation for morality 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 32 Views commonly confused with moral relativism editMoral relativism vs ethical subjectivism edit Moral relativism is a distinct position from ethical subjectivism the view that the truth of ethical claims are not mind independent 33 34 While these views are often held together they do not entail each other 33 For example someone who claims something is morally right for me to do because the people in my culture think it is right is both a moral relativist because what is right and wrong depends on who is doing it and an ethical subjectivist because what is right and wrong is determined by mental states i e what people think is right and wrong 35 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 36 In contrast someone who claims that to act ethically you must follow the laws of your country would be a relativist morality is dependent on who you are but not a subjectivist morality is based on facts about the world not mental states 37 Moral relativism vs moral anti realism edit Depending on how a moral relativist position is constructed it may or may not be independent of moral realism 37 Moral realists are committed to some version of the following three claims 38 39 Semantic thesis Moral statements have meaning they express propositions or are the kind of things that can be true or false Alethic thesis Some moral propositions are true Metaphysical thesis The metaphysical status of moral facts is robust and ordinary not importantly different from other facts about the world While many moral relativists deny one or more of these claims and therefore could be moral anti realists a denial is not required 35 A moral relativist who claims that you should act according to the laws in whatever country you are a citizen of accepts all three claims moral facts express propositions that can be true or false you can see if a given action is against the law or not some moral propositions are true some actions abide by the laws in someone s country and moral facts are ordinary laws are not mental states they are physical objects in the world However this view is a relativist one as it is dependent on the country you are a citizen of 37 See also editAtheistic existentialism Kind of existentialism Axiology Philosophical study of value Cultural relativism Anthropological concept that requires one s behaviors to be understood in cultural context De gustibus non est disputandum Latin maxim that there is no accounting for taste Ethical egoism View that people should only act in self interest Ethical intuitionism Family of views in moral epistemology Ethical subjectivism Philosophical position Moral nihilism Philosophical view that nothing is morally right or morally wrong and that morality doesn t exist Secular ethics Branch of moral philosophy Situational ethics Takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically Is ought problem Philosophical problem articulated by David HumeReferences edit Moral Relativism Ethics Unwrapped Retrieved 2020 05 27 Moral Relativism Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy www iep utm edu Retrieved 2020 05 27 Gowans Chris 2019 Moral Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Summer 2019 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2020 05 28 Rorty Richard 1982 Consequences of Pragmatism University of Minnesota Press pp 166 169 ISBN 0816610649 Wolfe Kyle The Ancient Greek Civilization Bartleby com a b Swoyer Chris February 22 2003 Relativism Retrieved May 10 2010 Baghramian Maria Carter J Adam 2020 09 21 Zalta Edward N ed Relativism The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved 2020 12 13 a b c Gowans Chris 15 October 2017 Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Witenberg Rivka T Tolerance is more than putting up with things it s a moral virtue The Conversation Retrieved 2020 05 28 at the end of his review at http jetpress org v21 blackford3 htm Gowans Chris 2004 02 19 Moral Relativism a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Introduction to Utilitarianism Utilitarianism net Utilitarianism Retrieved 2022 04 14 Dundas Paul 2002 p 231 Koller John M July 2000 pp 400 07 Protagoras Greek philosopher Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 2020 05 28 Protagoras of Abdera Of All Things Man Is The Measure World History Encyclopedia Retrieved 2020 05 28 Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism Book III Chapter 21 Kelley L Ross 1999 Baruch Spinoza 1632 1677 History of Philosophy As I See It Retrieved 2009 12 07 Smith Douglas 2008 Friedrich Nietzsche Oxford Oxford University Press pp 362 363 Spinks Lee 2003 Friedrich Nietzsche Florence KY Routledge pp 5 Brian Leiter Nietzsche s Moral and Political Philosophy article link at Stanford Encyclopedia Joyce Richard 2006 The Evolution of Morality Cambridge MA MIT Press ISBN 978 0 262 10112 7 evolution of morality joyce Shermer Michael 2004 Transcendent Morality The Science of Good and Evil ISBN 0 8050 7520 8 Given this presupposition it seems reasonable to be both a transcendentalist and an empiricist or what I call a transcendent empiricist Stace Walter T 1975 1937 The Concept of Morals New York The MacMillan Company p 67 ISBN 0 8446 2990 1 Baghramian Maria Carter J Adam 2019 Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2019 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2020 05 28 Moral Relativism Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy www iep utm edu Retrieved 2020 05 28 Reasonable Doubts Podcast Ibn Warraq interviews Defending the West and What the Koran Really Says Archived from the original on 2009 11 18 Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism philosophy bites Blackburn Simon 1998 Review of Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 58 1 195 198 doi 10 2307 2653640 ISSN 0031 8205 JSTOR 2653640 Gowans Chris 2015 01 01 Zalta Edward N ed Moral Relativism Fall 2015 ed Josef Cardinal Ratzinger Marcello Pera Without Roots The West Relativism Christianity Islam Basic Books 2006 ISBN 0 465 00634 5 Bhikkhu Bodhi A Buddhist Response to Contemporary Dilemmas of Human Existence article link at Access to Insight a b Joyce Richard 2016 Moral Anti Realism Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2016 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2021 03 08 In short the non objectivism vs objectivism and the relativism vs absolutism polarities are orthogonal to each other and it is the former pair that is usually taken to matter when it comes to characterizing anti realism Harrison Jonathan 2006 Borchert Donald M ed Encyclopedia of philosophy 2nd ed Detroit Thomson Gale Macmillan Reference USA ISBN 0 02 865780 2 OCLC 61151356 A subjectivist ethical theorist is a theory according to which moral judgements about men or their actions are judgements about the way people react to these men and actions that is the way they think or feel about them a b Joyce Richard 2016 Moral Anti Realism Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2016 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2021 03 08 In all cases it may be that what determines the difference in the relevant contexts is something mind dependent in which case it would be anti realist relativism but it need not be perhaps what determines the relevant difference is an entirely mind independent affair making for an objectivist and potentially realist relativism Joyce Richard 2016 Moral Anti Realism Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2016 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2021 03 08 the non objectivist need not be a relativist Suppose the moral facts depend on the attitudes or opinions of a particular group or individual e g X is good means Caesar approves of X or The Supreme Court rules in favor of X etc and thus moral truth is an entirely mind dependent affair Since in this case all speakers moral utterances are made true or false by the same mental activity then this is not strictly speaking a version of relativism but is rather a relation designating account of moral terms see Stevenson 1963 74 for this distinction a b c Joyce Richard 2016 Moral Anti Realism Supplement on Moral Objectivity and Moral Relativism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2016 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2021 03 08 In short the non objectivism vs objectivism and the relativism vs absolutism polarities are orthogonal to each other and it is the former pair that is usually taken to matter when it comes to characterizing anti realism Moral relativism is sometimes thought of as a version of anti realism but short of stipulating usage there is no basis for this classification it is better to say that some versions of relativism may be anti realist and others may be realist Joyce Richard 2016 Moral Anti Realism in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Winter 2016 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 2021 03 08 Vayrynen Pekka 2006 Encyclopedia of philosophy Donald M Borchert 2nd ed Detroit Thomson Gale Macmillan Reference USA pp 379 382 ISBN 0 02 865780 2 OCLC 61151356 No single description is likely to capture all realist views but a reasonably accurate rule is to understand moral realism as the conjunction of three theses The semantic thesis The primary semantic role of moral predicates such as right and wrong is to refer to moral properties such as rightness and wrongness so that moral statements such as honesty is good and slavery is unjust purport to represent moral facts and express propositions that are true or false or approximately true largely false and so on The alethic thesis Some moral propositions are in fact true The metaphysical thesis Moral propositions are true when actions and other objects of moral assessment have the relevant moral properties so that the relevant moral facts obtain where these facts and properties are robust their metaphysical status whatever it is is not relevantly different from that of certain types of ordinary non moral facts and properties Bibliography editGuy Ankerl Global Communication without Universal Civilization vol I Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations Arabo Muslim Bharati Chinese and Western Geneva INUPRESS 2000 ISBN 2 88155 004 5 Joxe Azurmendi 1998 The violence and the search for new values in Euskal Herria krisian Elkar 1999 pp 11 116 ISBN 84 8331 572 6 Kurt Baier Difficulties in the Emotive Imperative Theory in Paul W Taylor editor The Moral Judgement Readings in Contemporary Meta Ethics Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall 1963 Ruth Benedict Patterns of Culture mentor Panayot Butchvarov Skepticism in Ethics Bloomington and Indianapolis Indiana University Press 1989 Ronald F Duska What s the Point of a Business Ethics Course 1 Business Ethics Quarterly 335 352 1991 reprinted in Sterling Harwood ed Business as Ethical and Business as Usual Belmont CA Wadsworth Publishing Co 1996 pp 11 21 R M Hare Sorting out Ethics Oxford University Press Gilbert Harman amp Judith Jarvis Thomson Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity Blackwell Publishing 1996 Sterling Harwood Taking Ethics Seriously Moral Relativism versus Moral Realism in Sterling Harwood ed Business as Ethical and Business as Usual Belmont CA Wadsworth Publishing Co 1996 pp 2 4 Sterling Harwood Against MacIntyre s Relativistic Communitarianism in Sterling Harwood ed Business as Ethical and Business as Usual Belmont CA Wadsworth Publishing Co 1996 pp 5 10 David Hume An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals ed Tom L Beauchamp Oxford University Press Steven Lukes Moral Relativism Picador 2008 G E Moore Principia Ethica Cambridge University Press Jean Paul Sartre Existentialism is a Humanism in Existentialism From Dostoevsky to Sartre ed by Walter Kaufmann World Publishing Company Walter Terence Stace The Concept of Morals The MacMillan Company 1937 reprinted 1975 by Permission of Macmillan Publishing Co Inc Macmillan Publishers ISBN 0 8446 2990 1 See Chapters 1 and 2 entitled Ethical Relativity pp 1 68 Leo Strauss The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism ed Thomas L Pangle University of Chicago Press Edward Westermarck The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas Macmillan 1906 Bernard Williams Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Harvard University Press David B Wong Moral Relativity Berkeley CA University of California Press 1986 248 pages Paul Julian Minimal Truth Moral Conflict and Metaethical Relativism 2006 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Moral relativism Zalta Edward N ed Moral Relativism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Moral Relativism entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Living with Relativism Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Moral relativism amp oldid 1219132287, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.