Preview

Examples Of Ethical Relativism

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
123 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Ethical Relativism
Many people are lead to adopt Ethical Relativism because they believe that it justifies their view that one ought to be tolerant of the different behavior of people in other cultures. However, Ethical Relativism does not really justify tolerance at all. All around the world, there are different types of cultures, which have different ethical values that will be correct according to their cultures. Nevertheless, some people might argue about different cultures that have different moral codes that they can not accept; examples: polygamy and infanticide. On the other hand, Ethical Relativism proposes that we can stop the criticism and be more tolerant with other cultures. To illustrate, we could no longer say that custom of other societies

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The first ethical belief that the author discusses is Cultural Relativism. It talks about the how diversity is becoming more and more apparent between different cultures worldwide. The author mentions that often customs that are unquestioningly accepted in one part of the world are considered abhorrent in another, for example: human sacrifice. Cultural Relativism claims that there are no absolute standards for moral judgment. Basically says that the values that every culture isn't necessarily wrong, just different. I almost completely disagree with this view. The largest problem I have with it rejects absolute truth and its existence. If one were to make the statement "there is no absolute truth," they would have just proven themselves wrong because that is a self-defeating statement.…

    • 2415 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethical relativism is a concept in which most simple minded individuals adhere to. According to definition in the chapter, ethical relativism is the normative theory that what is right is what the culture or individual says is right. Shaw argues that it is not very plausible to say that ethical relativism is determined by what a person thinks is right and wrong. He gives reason that it “collapses the distinction between thinking something is right and it’s actually being right.” Ethical relativism may be justified occasionally. William H. Shaw examines ethical relativism by providing comprehensive examples on why relativism is a weak method in gaining morals.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Moral relativism is one’s perception of what is acknowledged to be morally just or unjust depending on accepted demeanor. Certain behaviors and manners that a specific culture may consider to be acceptable, another culture may consider to be unethical. In such an instance, neither one of the cultures would be incorrect. Morals are culturally defined in that it originates from the root as to what is considered socially acceptable.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cultural relativism, as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Is the thesis that a person’s culture strongly influences her modes of perception and thought” Most cultural relativists add to this definition saying that there is no standard of morality. This means that morality is relative to the particular society that one lives in. Prominent ethicist James Rachels has written against this view in his work titled The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. This paper will be focused on evaluating Rachels’ critique of cultural relativism, and whether it was right for him to endorse objective moral realism. Rachels defines this as “a standard that might be reasonably used in thinking about any social practice whatever. We may ask whether the practice promotes or hinders the welfare of people whose lives are affected by it.” That is the moral worth of an action is based upon how it contributes to the society from which it operates in.…

    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pojman Ethical Relativism

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethical Relativism is the belief that nothing is objectively right or wrong and that the meaning of what is right and wrong depends on the individual and culture. Pojman breaks down Ethical Relativism into 2 main concepts: The Diversity Theory and the Dependency Theory. The Diversity Theory addresses the concept of what is morally right and wrong varies from society to society; therefore, there is no universal moral principles that all societies accept. For example, Homosexuality in the Middle East is a forbidden practice, while in ancient Greek culture, it was said to be a accepted practice. The Dependency Theory says that all moral principles receive their validity from cultural acceptance.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This world is the abundant soil in which we plant our roots, but the quality and quantity of our growth often falls upon the virtues instilled by our environment. We exist in a society that blossoms with morals based on politics, geography, religion, and countless other variables. In such a society, it is virtually impossible for an entire world to agree on a set of morals to abide by, and therefore our world is saturated with the ideals of moral relativism, whether or not we see it blatantly. Moral relativism is often given the stigma of sprouting impurity or immorality, given the fact that it does not accept that there is a universal moral codex.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Saying that ethics are relative is an effortless way to avoid a controversial topic concerning ethics. In the case of relativism, we can simply say that your opinion is true and mine too and nothing being wrong with that. On the other hand, ethical absolutism tells us that there is an objective moral code and that certain of our actions as humans are necessarily right or wrong. What would happen if we say two contradictory statements can't coexist as Aristotle demonstrated? Through the law of non-contradiction from Aristotle and ethical absolutism, I will argue against ethical relativism.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “we need to understand the morals of other cultures,” it says, “we cannot judge the morals of other cultures,” regardless of the reasons for their actions. The contradiction of cultural relativism becomes immediately apparent. A society that embraces the notion that there is no ultimate “right” or “wrong” loses the ability to make any judgments at all.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cultural relativism would be the attempt of an anthropologist to look at a culture, understand it as much as possible and then only make judgments in accordance to the values, norms and morals of that particular culture. This point of view seems to make a lot of sense, in terms of gaining the best possible understanding of other cultures. There can, however, also be difficulties in certain cases when actually putting cultural relativism into practice. Aren't there some exceptions to the notion of detached observation being moral? I believe there may be, especially in cases of unjust punishments or mistreatment. I do believe that all people deserve to have at least basic human rights to safety and fair treatment--no matter what their culture commands. It is a reasonable stand point to not want to interfere with the systems of other cultures but, this is what I find to be the largest problem within the concept of cultural relativism. Direct interference maybe uncalled for, but making inhumane and unfair…

    • 363 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    What's ideal for my way of life won't really be what's appropriate for your way of life. No ethical standards are valid for all individuals constantly and in all spots. Moral relativism speaks to the position that there are no ethical absolutes, no ethical set in stone.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of moral relativism is that different civilizations have different moral beliefs, and that there is no absolute moral truth. “There is no actual standard that makes one societal code better than any other.” Each society lives by its cultural norms, and if someone from another culture came and did something different from the norm, then that person would be judged. One of the problems with moral relativism is that we cannot criticize someone for bad behavior because within that person’s society, what they are doing might be moral. An example of moral relativism is in Australia where it’s etiquette is for people to wear black clothes to a funeral, but in Japan it is their etiquette for people to wear white clothes;…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Objectivism is the idea that morality is objective. Objective morality tells us that there is a set of natural rules or laws for how we as humans must treat one another and it cannot be changed or altered. This idea contradicts the theory of moral relativism, which supports the belief that the ideas of morality of being right or wrong are not firm but can be open to interpretation through cultures, people and situations. A great example of these two ideas causing dispute in todays society would be it’s morally wrong to kill someone, but it’s morally right to kill criminals with the death penalty. We are all different and the reality is that we are never all going to agree on things and we are entitled to our own opinions.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Morality can differ in every culture and society because of how different people are and how disconnected everyone are in the world. Due to this, people have made up idea called cultural relativism. Cultural relativism means each individual understands everyone’s beliefs and activities. But there are many issues that challenges this idea. Furthermore, because there are many different cultures in the world there are many different moral codes.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of right and wrong varies from culture to culture. The five tenets of cultural relativism going to depth defining moral codes. Complications and moral questions arise when one culture begins harming another—Nazi genocide, war, imperialism, etc. Geographic boundaries blur in our technologically advanced, globalized world. The most daunting logical challenge presented by cultural relativism is it hinders a society from judging the codes or values of another society and even our own (Lecture 1).…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ETHICAL (MORAL) RELATIVISM

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This essay will examine and highlight major details about problems surrounding individual moral relativism and cultural moral relativism. It will reflect post-modern and modern methods of belief in order to exhibit its valuableness in ethical decision-making in overcoming problems (Owen, 2011). In particular, it argues that abstract theories of either individual or subjective moral relativism are fruitless for understanding humans. What's more, it tends to limit humans to egocentric people or hamper the development of distinctiveness through division and relativism.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays