In William Shaw’s essay about Relativism in Ethics he analyzes the matter of what is ethically wrong and right and how relative it is to an individual or to one’s own culture. He defends to argue that ethical relativism of either side is unjustified. Shaw examines that some relativist may think that morality is relative to only the individual and not one’s own culture. This theory considers that what is right and what is wrong is determined by what an individual may think is right or wrong. However, if any individual was to decide what is right and what is wrong how would one know what really is right and wrong. For example in the text it states:
The main reason is that it collapses the distinction between thinking something is right and it actually being right. We all have done things we thought were right at the time but later decided were wrong. Our normal view is that we …show more content…
If an individual were to take what they thought of as being right then nothing could be clarified, because nothing would be wrong in the mindset of the individual. Another theory that Shaw examines is how morality is relative to one’s own culture. Some people believe that what is right and what is wrong is solely determined by what the culture says it is. The only way an action could be judged would be based on the moral system of society that it occurred in. For example, in the text it states “Abortion is condemned in Catholic Spain but practiced as a morally neutral form of birth control in Japan.” In this event abortion being condemned in Spain and being morally neutral in Japan make them both right for that is what their culture states is so. Shaw concludes that mortality being relative to one’s culture cannot be justified as well. The way one culture see’s things may be completely different from another and determining what they feel is morally right or wrong can cause a culture to make moral errors as
The main reason is that it collapses the distinction between thinking something is right and it actually being right. We all have done things we thought were right at the time but later decided were wrong. Our normal view is that we …show more content…
If an individual were to take what they thought of as being right then nothing could be clarified, because nothing would be wrong in the mindset of the individual. Another theory that Shaw examines is how morality is relative to one’s own culture. Some people believe that what is right and what is wrong is solely determined by what the culture says it is. The only way an action could be judged would be based on the moral system of society that it occurred in. For example, in the text it states “Abortion is condemned in Catholic Spain but practiced as a morally neutral form of birth control in Japan.” In this event abortion being condemned in Spain and being morally neutral in Japan make them both right for that is what their culture states is so. Shaw concludes that mortality being relative to one’s culture cannot be justified as well. The way one culture see’s things may be completely different from another and determining what they feel is morally right or wrong can cause a culture to make moral errors as