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 fundamental principles of morality X is morally right X is wrong, Y is right X & Y are wrong Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

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.

Moral Relativism diagram OBJECTIVE TRUTH ABOUT MORALITY X is morally right X is wrong, Y is right X & Y are wrong Group 3 Group 1 Group 2

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.

Moral Objectivism Diagram OBJECTIVE TRUTH ABOUT MORALITY X is morally right X is wrong, Y is right X & Y are wrong Group 3 Group 1 Group 2

Commonly discussed issues with moral relativism

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”?

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?

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