Chapter 3 - Ethical Relativism ( Prt. 1) Flashcards
It refers to the doctrine that ethical values and beliefs (as to what is right/good and wrong/bad) are relative to the time, place, persons, situations and societies that hold them.
Ethical Relativism
a theory that hold that there are no universally valid moral principles; that all moral values are valid relative to culture or individual choice
Ethical Relativism
For an _________, “whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of society or moral commitments of the individual, and no absolute standard exists by which differing rules or commitments can be judged.
ethical relativist
T/F There are values that cut across cultural boundaries and peoples that are not relative to the specific place or context in which they are held
False; there are no values
T/F Ethical relativists are neither _____ nor _______. They believe in moral right and wrong. It is just they contend that what is basically right for an individual or group may be wrong for another.
True
Skeptics
Nihilist
The framework of Ethical Relativism
is where _______ is mainly
morality
A theory that holds that there are no
universally valid moral principles
That all moral values are
valid relative to culture or
individual choice.
ETHICAL RELATIVISM
Right or wrong depends on the ____________ of society (Camp, Olen & Barry
2015)
moral norms
ARGUMENTS FOR ETHICAL
RELATIVISM
- The Cultural Differences Argument
- The Argument from Respect
- The Psychological Argument
- The Conformity Argument
- The Provability Argument
Ethical Relativism is
consistent with the facts of
cultural diversity.
The Cultural Differences Argument
Noted American anthropologist __________ claims that “careful study of the cultural practices of different peoples supports the idea that what is and not behaviorally normal is culturally determined.”
Ruth Benedict
Part of its [powerful drawing power] is due to the fact that such view has been though to promote tolerance
The Argument from Respect
Through Ethical
Relativism, it is believed that
people would become more
accepting of moralities of others.
They have to stop this “we’re right
and they’re wrong” attitude and
rather view the other as simply
“different”
The Argument from Respect
Tolerance has always been considered a _______ while taking a superior stance is usually viewed as the height of ___________
virtue
arrogance
OUR VALUES are simply the result
of our having been CONDITIONED
to behave in a certain way
The Psychological Argument
All of us, consciously or unconsciously, have been subjected in one way or the other to some sort of a __________ by our ___________
The Psychological Argument
Psychic manipulation
Significant others
it is but
natural for people to easily affiliate
and conform to the accepted
ethical standards of the particular
the group that they belong
The Conformity Argument
As social beings by nature, it is but natural for people to easily affiliate and conform to the accepted _____________ of the particular group that they belong
The Provability Argument
ethical standards
it is though that people would come to be more accepting of their own societal norms. Their beliefs gives a good basis for a common morality within a culture - in fact, a kind of democratic basis where “diverse ideas and principles are pooled in, thus insuring that norms/rule that a certain society would eventually accept have a wide and solid support”
The Conformity Argument
another reason that what Ethical Relativism holds is indeed true is the undeniable fact of
moral dispute occurring between
and among groups as well as
individuals
The Provability Argument
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ETHICAL
RELATIVISM
- On Cultural Diversity
- On the Argument from Respect
- On the Psychological Argument
- On the Argument from Conformit
- On the Provability Argument
Ethical Relativism is self
contradictory
On Cultural Diversity
It will lead to eventual
conflict and disorder.
On the Argument from Respect
the argument is
transparently fallacious
On the Psychological Argument
The argument
states that the view of the majority is the only
true and legitimate voice of what is moral or
not.
On the Argument from Conformity
Ethical Issues are complex and
difficult to determine
On the Provability Argument
If there is such thing as _______ or __________ in ethics, we should be able to prove that some moral opinions are true and others false.
The provability argument
objective
Universal truth
But in fact, we cannot prove which moral opinion are true and which are false. Therefore, there is no such thing as __________ in ethics
The Provability Argument
objective truth
T/F Cultural Diversity is indeed a sociological and anthropological fact.
T
Cultural Diversity in itself is neutral to making any value or moral judgment. It does not categorically say whose or what culture or cultures is/are doing and practicing what is right
On Cultural Diversity
It has no objective truths, but morality is a product of a culture that can express objective truths. So too, a moral code be a product of culture yet still express objective truth.
Cultural Diversity
He argues even more explicitly than Benedict that the belief in ethical relativism entails “intercultural tolerance”
On the Argument from Repect
Melville Herskovits
If Morality simply is relative to each culture, then what if the culture in question does not have tolerance as part of its moral code? This would naturally mean that the members of that culture have no _________________ to practice tolerance.
On the Argument from Rescpect
moral obligation
_______ systemically points out that if we had been conditioned differently, we would have different moral beliefs, thus there is no such thing as objective moral truth, does not follow, hence unsound and invalid.
On the Psychological Argument
Rachels
The Psychological Argument is guilty of committing: (fallacies)
Genetic Fallacy
Fallacy of misinterpretation
Fallacy of oversimplification
something comes from a dubious source, if (one’s belief) does not necessarily follow that it is false or erroneous
Genetic Fallacy
deceiving us into believing that the matter of social conditioning/training is all that there is in the person’s moral or ethical development.
Fallacy of misinterpretation
one of the most important and crucial of all of these other factors (not only conditioning) is the exercise of the person’s ________
freedom of choice/free will
the product of our childhood conditioning but, to disregard totally the specific role that our early psychological upbringing played in the formation of our moral values and behavior, is also committing the _________________
fallacy of oversimplification
one will have to prove an ethical viewpoint to another to find out how difficult and frustrating the entire activity is.
On the Provability Argument
