Conventionalism Justifies Morality

Improved Essays
Conventionalism justifies moral principles in society, but lacks the need to be tolerant of the moralities of other cultures. Every society views morality in different ways, and with societies always changing in different times and places, it is easy to judge other cultures. The variety in moral systems leads to difference in opinions and views on specific topics. For example, until the late 1800s there was still slavery in the United States. The cultural norm was to have slaves work the fields and help in the home, but now in today’s culture it is wrong not to pay your workers a fair wage and supply good working conditions. Therefore, shouldn’t we be tolerant of their views and practices. Pojman states “if morality simply is relative to each

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Since one cannot unbiasedly judge the morality of another culture, they should be tolerant of the morals another culture chooses to accept as the culture they belong to also has morals they may choose from. Pojman, however, disagrees with Herskovits, explaining that tolerance of each culture is not something that ought to happen without reason. Relativists often do not have a reason for tolerance but are not accepting of intolerance according to Pojman. The actions of a French citizen who detonates a bomb in a crowded tourist attraction, say the Louvre, would have to be accepted as morally correct should that be a commonly accepted principle in France This is an example of Pojman’s connection between cultural relativism and tolerance.…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The world of Pojman On behalf of Pojman and his interpretation of universal moral principles “The individual realizes his personality through his culture, hence respect for individual differences entails a respect for cultural differences” The executive board of the American Anthropological Association (69) The executive board of the American Anthropological Association proposal was meant to acknowledge moral diversity in different cultures around the world. This fragment was part of an introductory reading to the essay, “ The Case Against Ethical Relativism” by Louis Pojman. In this essay, he elaborates different arguments against ethical relativism, explains his own interpretation of universal moral principles and reconciles cultural…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical relativism has been looked at from several different angles by many different people. Louis P. Pojman is one person that has not only questioned, but rejected the concept. Pojman’s argument stands on four objections. His protests are that ethical relativism leads to ridiculous outcomes, gives way to subjectivism, is logically inconsistent, and provides no rational method to resolve conflicts within and between cultures. Pojman theorized that, if the world were to go by ethical relativism, one could no longer make judgements against any society, including their own, because no external or objective truth exists.…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This demonstrates that cultures’ moral judgment is found at many times to be wrong allowing for moral progress and the acceptance that morality does have objectively true…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this section, I will review flawed points in the ideas of conventionalism and subjectivism as Pojman partially disagrees with what these ideas are saying. Subjectivism is defined by “all moral principles are justified by virtue of their…

    • 1020 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1a. Cultural relativism is the view that no culture is superior to any other culture when comparing systems of morality, law, politics, etc. (AllAboutPhilosophy.org, n.d.) It does not offer a universal right and wrong, but rather offers the notion of morals based on the cultural environment. This diverges from the traditional ethical theories of doing what is right and adopts the ethical theories that are the “lay of the land” as they relate to the local culture in which the dilemma takes place.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Norm violations are common in society today. Norms are defined as being “expectations of ‘right’ behavior” (Henslin, 49). There are two types of norms: folkways and mores. Folkways are a type of norm that are not strongly implemented, meaning that to go against this type of norm is not as severe as going against a more. A more is a type of norm that is forcefully implemented.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    They deem that our moral compass is in part due to the moral standards held by the culture we are a part of and those ethical standings are a direct reflection of the character and values of each person. There is a basis for what is right and wrong, and those who are in the wrong are determined by the society they live in. The emphasis of how the structure of the values and ethical standards surrounding a society can deeply influence the individual members of that culture and the way they develop their own…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many cultures all over the world; each culture has their own societies and people to take care of. Each culture has their own set of laws that need to follow, but some could be offensive to what we think is morally right. Which is why Mary Midgley, who was a Senior lecturer in Philosophy at Newcastle University in England, argues that moral reasoning requires the possibility of judging the practices of other cultures. If moral isolationism is the world is sharply divided into separate societies, each with it’s own system of thought, then we ought to respect and tolerate these systems and are therefore forbidden to criticize them. Moral isolationism is the world is sharply divided into separate societies, each with it’s own system…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral Relativism Essay

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Both Mary Midgley and John Arthur have respective solutions towards this controversial issue. Moral relativism has the idea of moral isolationism. Anything in your culture goes; outsiders have no room to criticize about that culture, because they lack knowledge about how that culture functions. This is considered a general ban on moral reasoning.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Relativism And Culture

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Different cultures have different moral codes”, James Rachels discusses in his article Why Morality Is Not Relative? (160). Moral codes differ from culture to culture and each culture tends to have their own individual standards. Cultural relativism is said to be “moral rules differ from society to society” (18). Cultural relativism can be looked at as a theory based on nature of morality. Each culture has their own moral codes, typically created by their ancestors.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article, “Hands Off Clitoridectomy” by Yael Tamir, discusses the controversial topic of clitoridectomy, and all the arguments within the subject while opening up a new way of perceiving it by comparing it to our own society and practices. She suggest that indeed the practice of clioridectomy is a gruesome and gutwrenching, but there is more to the subject than just the moral issues of it. She address the political and social aspects of performing and living with the procedure and addresses them with passive but firm arguments. Her main point of the article is that our society needs to stop judging and creating prejudices aimed at other cultures or societies when in fact we could be bettering our own society rather than critiquing others.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural relativism may be defined as a theory that advocates the idea of subjective morality. To extrapolate, this theory entails that “different cultures have differing moral codes” and these variances are merely arbitrary. Although this is a seemingly sufficient theory, there are key issues with this school of thought. James Rachels suggests several issues with accepting cultural relativism. He criticizes cultural relativism by stating that the theory is absurd as it entails severe consequences if practiced.…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All the moral issues presented in this book were not wrong because the culture determined they were right. While the actions brought by imperialistic ideology, racism, and the corruption of man may have been barbaric; they were justified by cultural relativism. The normative system of relativism clearly outlined a pattern, if morality is relative, then nothing can be…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Morality: An essential to life      A Russian born American science-fiction writer and biochemist once quoted, “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” This statement generates a…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays