Moral Relativism: Overview Discussion PHIL 102, Spring 2018 Moral relativism is different than saying people disagree A descriptive claim about morality: Different groups have different views of what is morally right and wrong and the
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Presentation Transcript
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Moral Relativism: Overview & Discussion PHIL 102, Spring 2018<br>
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Moral relativism is different than saying people disagree A descriptive claim about morality: Different groups have different views of what is morally right and wrong and the fundamental principles of morality Group 1 Group 2 Group 3<br>
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Moral Relativism “The truth or falsity of moral judgments … is not absolute or universal, but is relative to the traditions, convictions, or practices of a group of persons.”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Moral Relativism
No “single moral code has universal validity”; “moral truth and justifiability…are in some way relative to factors that are culturally and historically contingent” (Wong 442).
David Wong, “Relativism.” A Companion to Ethics, Ed. Peter Singer. Cambridge, Mass: Basil Blackwell, 1991.<br>
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Moral Relativism diagram Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 OBJECTIVE TRUTH ABOUT MORALITY<br>
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Moral objectivism “Moral judgments are ordinarily true or false in an absolute or universal sense”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Moral Relativism
“There are moral norms whose correctness … is independent of the moral norms a culture does or might accept, and thus they express universally valid moral standards …” (Timmons 41).
Timmons, Mark. Moral Theory: An Introduction. Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.<br>
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Moral Objectivism Diagram Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 OBJECTIVE TRUTH ABOUT MORALITY<br>
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Commonly discussed issues with moral relativism<br>
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Criticizing the actions of those not in your group If another group does what you think of as immoral what can you say as a moral relativist?
Can there be “human rights”?<br>
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Criticizing your own group’s views Can you criticize the moral views of your own group?
What about claims to moral progress?
Sort of like Plato’s Euthyphro:
are things morally right because our group they are, or should our group think of morality according to what is morally right?<br>
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Point of moral discussion seems lost Why have conversations with others inside or outside our group about what’s morally right?
Inside: what’s right is just what our group says
Outside: what’s right is just what their group says<br>
