Title: In Defense of Relativism
Name: Jun Hao Li
Word Count: 1319
Prompt you are responding to: Prompt (3)
In Defense of Relativism
Intro:
The philosophical view of relativism states that the moral codes of a culture are all products of the society’s upbringing and that there is no moral code that is superior to another moral code because of the drastically different cultures each society possesses. Therefore, relativists believe it is intolerant of us to judge other cultural practices as immoral, unethical, or wrong. Opponents of relativism argue that if relativism were to be adopted, we would not be able to say the actions of another society is bad . Furthermore, if relativism were to be adopted, our belief of moral progress would …show more content…
As such, the belief of moral progress does not exist to a relativist. A relativist believes that society has changed over time, and with this change, our moral codes have changed as well. The reason we see our current society as better than our previous society is because our current society conforms to our current moral codes, not because our current society has progressed in comparison to our previous society. Therefore to say that moral progress is called into question is correct as morality has not progressed, it merely changed to fit our current moral …show more content…
An opponent of relativism might ask that if there are no universal code of morality, why do all societies believe that “Parents ought to care for their children”?(Austin) To answer that question I respond by saying that such codes exist not because of morality but because of humans’ fundamental need for survival. As animals, it is in our nature to reproduce and keep our offspring alive until they are able to reproduce and thus continuing the lineage of our specie. Therefore a parents’ care for their children is not a product of a universal moral code that governs all societies, it is instead a product of humans’ fundamental animalistic instinct for survival. We care for our youth not because it is morally correct, instead we do so to preserve the existence of our
Name: Jun Hao Li
Word Count: 1319
Prompt you are responding to: Prompt (3)
In Defense of Relativism
Intro:
The philosophical view of relativism states that the moral codes of a culture are all products of the society’s upbringing and that there is no moral code that is superior to another moral code because of the drastically different cultures each society possesses. Therefore, relativists believe it is intolerant of us to judge other cultural practices as immoral, unethical, or wrong. Opponents of relativism argue that if relativism were to be adopted, we would not be able to say the actions of another society is bad . Furthermore, if relativism were to be adopted, our belief of moral progress would …show more content…
As such, the belief of moral progress does not exist to a relativist. A relativist believes that society has changed over time, and with this change, our moral codes have changed as well. The reason we see our current society as better than our previous society is because our current society conforms to our current moral codes, not because our current society has progressed in comparison to our previous society. Therefore to say that moral progress is called into question is correct as morality has not progressed, it merely changed to fit our current moral …show more content…
An opponent of relativism might ask that if there are no universal code of morality, why do all societies believe that “Parents ought to care for their children”?(Austin) To answer that question I respond by saying that such codes exist not because of morality but because of humans’ fundamental need for survival. As animals, it is in our nature to reproduce and keep our offspring alive until they are able to reproduce and thus continuing the lineage of our specie. Therefore a parents’ care for their children is not a product of a universal moral code that governs all societies, it is instead a product of humans’ fundamental animalistic instinct for survival. We care for our youth not because it is morally correct, instead we do so to preserve the existence of our