Essay On Ethical Relativism

Ethical relativism is the theory that morality is relative to the normal practices of one's culture. Whether an action is right or wrong, depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced. One action may be morally right in one society but, be morally wrong in another. Ethical relativists believe there are no universal moral standards. One society cannot judge another society. Moral standards can only be judged within a society. Many people do not agree with ethical relativism because there should be some sort of baseline that we can judge a person’s morals. Of course, there will always be practices that differ from society to society. The way people dress, religious beliefs, education beliefs, etc., can differ from each society. But, things like murder, torture, child abuse, should all be …show more content…
Absolutism is the belief that something is either right, or wrong, and there is no difference based on the society you belong to. One theory is on one side of the spectrum, and the other is way at the other end. Personally, I can’t say I agree solely with either. I am somewhere in the middle. As I’m thinking about the two, I thought about something that was common practice for my family. I was raised in a family with a Portuguese background. I am the 1st American born child on both my maternal and paternal side. When I was a child, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins, would visit my grandparent’s house on Sunday, after church. All of us cousins would sit around while my grandfather, who raised different animals, killed rabbits to cook for dinner. I look back on that and just shrug it off. When I met my husband and that story came up, he looked horrified. To me, that was normal. Every Portuguese person I know can tell you a similar story. That was our culture. My husband, on the other hand, thinks that is some sort of traumatizing