Moral Absolutism and Moral Relativism Flashcards
what are rules that are always either right or wrong known as?
ethical absolutes
what does moral absolutism argue?
some things are always right or wrong
- always
- for all people
- regardless of the situation
ABSOLUTISM =
some things are right & other things are wrong, and that these things are fixed for all time & all people
what are immoral acts?
intrinsically wrong
what does intrinsically wrong mean?
wrong in themselves
why are situations wrong according to absolutism?
because the act breaks a moral rule
what is an example of a moral absolutist position in religion?
the 10 commandments
what do many christians today think?
that there is a hierarchy of absolutes
what would happen if there was a conflict between absolutes?
it’s our duty to obey the higher one
what does absolutism provide? STRENGTH
provides a fixed ethical code with which to measure actions
what does absolutism allow countries to have? STRENGTH
laws
what does absolutism give clear guidance of?
behaviour that reinforces a global view of the human community
what is there no danger of doing within absolutism?
permitting atrocities
what can absolutism support? STRENGTH
the declaration of human rights
what does absolutism help to do? STRENGTH
unite cultures
what can’t absolutism take into account? WEAKNESS
the circumstances of the situation
what is absolutism unable to accept? WEAKNESS
different religions and cultural practices
what can absolutism be seen as? WEAKNESS
intolerant of cultural diversity
what are there none of? MORAL RELATIVISM
no universally valid moral principles
what are all principles and values relative to? MORAL RELATIVISM
relative to a particular culture of age
what is there no such thing as regarding actions? MORAL RELATIVISM
‘good - in itself’ but if an action seems good to you and bad for me , that’s it - there is no objective basis for us to discover the truth
who found an example of MORAL RELATIVISM?
king darius
what did king darius observe? MORAL RELATIVISM
that while certain greeks burn the bodies of their fathers, a different group called callations are the bodies of their fathers
what did king darius ask the two groups to do? MORAL RELATIVISM
how much he would have to pay them to adopt the practice of the other
what was the response of the two groups to king darius’s question? MORAL RELATIVISM
both groups were outraged and refused
what did king darius’s example show?
what was right for one tribe was wrong for the other
what is the dependency thesis? MORAL RELATIVISM
what is right or wrong depends upon the nature of society
what did JL Mackie say? MORAL RELATIVISM
there are no objective values
what does JL Mackie say isn’t part of the fabric of the world? MORAL RELATIVISM
values, the good, the rightness & wrongness
what does JL Mackie say the more convincing argument is?
to assume that people participates in different ways of living because they follow different codes
what does moral relativism suit? STRENGTH
our multicultural world
what does moral relativism permit? STRENGTH
acts which one culture considers the norm and others don’t
what does moral relativism say one culture isn’t? STRENGTH
superior to another
what does moral relativism decline? STRENGTH
religious authority
what is the weakness of different moral views? MORAL RELATIVISM
different moral views are not necessarily equal (socrates)
what can there be no real evaluation of in moral relativism? WEAKNESS
no real evaluation or criticisms of practices such as the holocaust
what does moral relativism give little reason for? WEAKNESS
behaving morally
just because cultures caary…what doesn’t it mean?
it doess not mean there is no ‘objective good’
what are moral rules? cultural relativism
expressions of culture and nothing more
what isn’t there regarding rules? CULTURAL RELATIVISM
no set of moral rules that appy to all. nothing absolute or universal about morality
where do moral points of view vary from? CULTURAL RELATIVISM
time to time, culture to culture, religion to religion and place to place
why is the diversity thesis important? CULTURAL RELATIVISM
because of the diversity across and within cultures, there can be no one true morality
