In this document, I will be discussing ethical subjectivism and cultural relativism. In doing so, the first thing that I will discuss is the theocratical claims that both theories are based on. Then after discussing that, the next thing that I will do is to explain the relationship between both theories. Then lastly, I will outline some of the implications of these ethical positions on classroom practices.
According to Vaughn (2015), ethical subjectivism or moral subjectivism is a philosophical theory that suggest moral truth are determined on an individual level. Under this theory, the individual does not have to justify his/her position of why certain actions are considered to be morally right or wrong to anyone. Nor does the …show more content…
In the sense that, the same challenges faced by ethical subjectivism would be similar to the ones faced by cultural relativism. This is because ethical subjectivism is an extension of cultural relativism (Gensler, 2011).
Nevertheless, both theories seem to differ in terms of the number of people that are involved in the decision-making process of what is morally right or wrong. For example, in ethical subjectivism it is only the individual alone who decides. However, in cultural relativism it is normally all the members of that certain culture who decides on what is morally acceptable. Perhaps this is why Thomas (2014) believed that, moral beliefs within a culture are true or false depending on whether they accord with the prevailing believes in that culture.
However, I believe that both theories are related to a certain extent. For instance, we are all born belonging to a certain culture, community, or society. And while growing up in those places, through social interactions we are taught morals and values that we should up hold from a tender age. Meaning that at the end of the day, the extent of which an individual is ethically subjective might probably have been influenced by one’s culture, society, or community that one was raised in to. And not the other way around, although Gensler (2011) disagrees with my …show more content…
Ethical subjectivism creates a situation that offers no way for the parties engaged in ethical debate to resolve their disagreements (Smiley, 2015). In short, there would be moral disagreement in the classrooms.
For instance, the could be a situation where the teacher gave the learners a homework to do, but only to discover that no learners did the work because the learners did not feel like doing it. And according to ethical subjectivism the learners are right. According to Thomas (2012) feelings and attitudes often change over time, thus ethical subjectivism does not make a good base for ethical decisions. The same problems that ethical subjectivism is faced with would be similar to that of cultural relativism. This is because ethical subjectivism is an extension of cultural relativism (Gensler, 2011).
In conclusion, I do not believe in the idea of adopting either ethical positions as a teacher and using them in practice. And that is because in the classroom there will be little to non-moral standards that we will seem to