Is Ethical Relativism True?

Decent Essays
Is ethical relativism true? Before one can answer such a question, they must ask themselves, what ethical relativism is. Ethical Relativism is the stance that all opinions of perspective are equivalently accurate and the individual themselves arbitrates what they believe to be true to them. Ethical Relativism hypothesizes that beliefs might be different for every individual, simply because different people believe different things to be true. Ethical Relativism establishes that there are no moral absolutes and no morals are right or wrong. I believe that ethical relativism is not true and the reason I believe this is because it is conflicting to say the same rule is to be considered right in one society and wrong in another. If “right” and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Subsequently, if a person or culture deems that murder or slavery is morally correct, ethical relativism holds that the actions are morally correct. Further, if one believes that ethical relativism is morally correct and another believes that it is incorrect,…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior 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

    Sacrifice In Aztec Culture

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages

    On the subject of ethical relativism, Ruth Benedict believes that cultural relativism and ethical relativism do not interfere with each other, also moral principles does not derive from cultural acceptance, furthermore, there are universal moral codes based on common aspects. (Vice and Virtue) While I do agree that there a set of moral standards that does not differ much from others, nevertheless,…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If individuals had no moral values, everyone would be running around without a care in the world and solely worried about themselves. There would be no awareness for anybody or anything so we would turn into selfish human beings. Ethical relativism is “the doctrine that the moral rightness and wrongness of actions vary from society to society and that there are no absolute universal moral standards binding on all men at all times” (Pojman, 14). There are some moral values worldwide that are just adopted overtime and for that I will support Louis Pojman and what he states about ethical relativism being an incoherent theory, how it is much bigger than just individuals or even societies. I strive to hit on conventionalism and subjectivism, which have their up sides but ultimately diminish Pojman’s argument on ethical relativism.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    James Rachels: 1: Moral relativism is the perspective that ethical benchmarks, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and in this way subject to a man's individual decision. We can all choose what is right for ourselves. Moral Relativists call attention to that humans are not omniscient, and history is loaded with samples of people and societies acting for the sake of a trustworthy truth later exhibited to be more than error prone, so we ought to be extremely careful about constructing vital ethical decisions in light of a gathered supreme case. Absolutes additionally have a tendency to hinder experimentation and abandon conceivable fields of request which may prompt advance in numerous fields, and smothering the human…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I chose that I am a relativist because I believe that everyone’s moral principle is relative to the person who holds it. Everyone has their own opinion on what is permissible and what is not permissible. Everyone’s moral code can be different than society, for prime example, some people believe that everyone should be treated equally, and some do not. We as individuals cannot say that everyone’s moral value or cultural practice is objectively right or wrong. I am exactly like this, everyone has their own opinion, practices and beliefs, we cannot use our standards to judge another’s morality it is just ethically wrong.…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Relativism can be subjective, which is the view that an action is morally right if one approves of it or it can be cultural, the view that an action is right if one’s culture approves of it. As long as a person has approval for an action it will be considered the right action for them to make. Not every relativist is going to have morally correct beliefs because what seems right to one person may seem wrong to another. For example, some cultures believe that there is nothing wrong with committing crimes such as murder, rape, stealing because this is what is accepted and seen as normal in their culture. When looking at criterion 1 of moral criteria of adequacy, this theory appears to be inconsistent with considered judgments because what one person approves of can be seen as immorally incorrect.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral Relativism Essay

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Although this concept isn’t great for our society, it has a greater success outcome compared to absolutism. In Mary Midgley’s article, she discusses the issues with moral relativism. She claims that although moral relativism doesn’t have the greatest outcome, it is a way to view different cultures. Every culture does something based on their religion and or…

    • 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

    However, with an example like this, this is why moral realism makes the most sense. After researching moral realism and moral relativism further they are both standpoints in which I understand and was able to grasp a fundamental understanding of the two. Moral realism is judgments based on factual information and is basically true or false. Moral relativism is basically a claim and…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 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

    Ethical relativism is the view that “some moral rules really are correct, and that these determine which moral claims are true and which false.”…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Relativism is the belief that each culture defines their own morality and because of this we should not judge a cultures morality because one is not better than the other. Acceptance is a strength of relativism, because it could promote the idea that we are all different and we should all accept each other for who we are. Another of its strengths is allowing people to choose a moral code to live by and not be subjected to one way of thinking. However there are some downsides to relativism, for example promoting intolerance. Intolerance promoted due to the fact that if a culture is committing genocide relativists say that we are not allowed to judge them because that might just be a part of their culture.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What I believe is true for you; what I believe is true for me. When talking about relativism is never an absolutely right or wrong. It’s basically an object you can’t prove unless it shows the rightness or wrongness. Live love life, the reason why we are here, the reason why we have the possession of life is to take our emotions and action and let them sync into command. “I like this”, “I want…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Folkways, William Graham Sumner claimed that morality is actually just a reflection of the mores. He further argued that since morality came from the typical culture groups, it should be only bounded within the group but not universally. The thesis Sumner raised in his argument, aka, ethical relativism, had been challenged by many objections. In this essay, I will provide one objection of ethical relativism and argue that even Sumner attempted to address the objection; his thesis is still fallacious due to begging the question. One critical objection to ethical relativism is the absurd objection.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays