Fallacies

‘it’s all relative’ ‘you have your opinion and I have mine’ ‘to each his own’ ‘who’s to say you are right, and I am wrong?’ ‘morality is a social construction’ ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans’

Objectivism and Relativism Objectivism: some moral principles obtain for everyone Cultural Relativism an action X is morally right if one’s culture approves of it Ac action X is morally wrong if one’s culture disapproves of it Subjective Relativism an action X is morally right if one approves of it

Motivation: Many Moral Codes Cannibalism is encouraged by the Callatians, while not accepted by others Spartans practiced infanticide in order to promote ‘strong’ citizen soldiers. The weak were either killed or enslaved. Not a common value in the 21st century Some “Eskimo” groups traditionally practiced open marriage and ‘wife loaning’ Polygamy and Monogamy vary even in the United States Revenge killings are encouraged

Motivation 2: Importance of Tradition Many values become part of tradition and that is in part why we value them Some values are maintained out of respect for tradition Our own tradition: Freedom of movement, speech Equality between the sexes Disapproval of Adultery Marriage as a union between a man and a woman Duties to one’s parents

Cultural Relativism Idea: Morality is a matter of convention nothing more Morality is like language We assign meanings to words arbitrarily, but once they are set, then we ought to stick by those conventions ‘Calculus’ could have meant something completely different, but given that the convention long ago was that it mean the math discipline, then we ought to follow that convention. Morality is like Etiquette In some societies, it is proper to take off your shoes before entering someone’s home, while in others this would be seen as strange or impolite Morality is similar: in one society we have a convention to bury the dead, and in others they eat the dead

Cultural Relativism Theses An action x is morally right in society S =df X is in accordance with the moral norms of S Consequences: The moral code of our own society has no special status; it is one among many There is no ‘universal truth’ in ethics – no moral truths that hold for all people for all time This is contrary to utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. In the case of utilitarianism, the universal truth was always act so as to maximize overall pleasure, and for Kant, the universal law was to always act in accordance with the Categorical Imperative

Relativism Absolute Concepts: Greenness, being a Floridian To says that a concept is relative is to say that it has a value only with respect to something else Example Tallness is a relative concept We can’t say whether a 6’ human being is tall or not, unless we know relative to what. Relative to the set of all human beings, she is tall Relative to the set of NBA basketball players, she is short Coldness is a relative concept 32oF is a cold day in Florida, but it is a warm day on Pluto Coldness is relative to the set of objects Cultural Relativism: Morality is a relative concept It makes no sense to ask what is the morally right thing to do universally, it only makes sense to ask what, relative to some society, is the morally right thing to do Absolute Concepts: Greenness, being a Floridian Something is not green relative to something else; it just is green or not

People’s judgments about right and wrong differ from culture to culture If people’s judgments about right and wrong differ from culture to culture, then right and wrong are relative to culture, and there are no objective moral principles Therefore, right and wrong are relative to culture and there are no moral objective moral principles

Argument Different cultures believe in different moral codes Therefore, right and wrong are relative to a culture Evaluation of argument: Is this argument sound? Premises True? Yes. Valid? No; Even if the premise is true, the conclusion could be false. The premise is about what people believe an the conclusion is about what is the case It could be the case that there is an objective morality even though many cultures disagrees that is they had different believes some were mistaken

Believing something doesn’t make it true. Until recently, different cultures had different beliefs about whether the Earth was flat. This doesn’t mean that the shape of the Earth is relative to culture!

Objection: Moral Deliberation Moral decision would be too easy if Cultural Relativism was true All one would have to do is compare one’s moral beliefs with one’s culture. If it matched then it would be right, if it didn’t it would be wrong But, this doesn’t account for the fact that people deliberate at length about complex moral issues, e.g. abortion, famine relief

Objection: Moral Progress Most people think that there have been significant improvements in our society Example: Equality between women and men If CR were true, there would be no way to say that society has improved Furthermore, there would be no reason to improve the inequalities that remain (e.g. women are still paid less than men of equal merit) For a Cultural Relativist, it is difficult to find a reason for Social Activism; Social activism is like protesting for change in etiquette

Objection: What Group? We are members of several groups simultaneously We belong to: A country A race An ethnic group An ethic group within a country A union of workers A professional organization A university The moral code in each of these groups may be in conflict. Which one should you follow?

Objection: Universally Wrong Views Since moral values are arbitrary, i.e. a matter of convention, there cannot be anything wrong about any set of values that a society has No society is better or worse than any other But, this goes strongly against the belief that some societies have morally repugnant values Obvious cases: societies that condoned slavery, anti- Semitism, infanticide, etc. This seems to be a major problem for cultural relativism

Does that mean that many moral codes are just wrong? Not so fast. If these objections are convincing, what do we make of the initial observation that there are many different moral codes Does that mean that many moral codes are just wrong? Not so fast. It might be that there isn’t that much disagreement between societies And, it also looks like there are many moral values held across all societies

Less Disagreement than It Seems Callatians: men who eat feathers – eating flesh could be a sign of respect – a symbolic act that is really that says ‘the spirit dwell’s within us’ The values are common; but the practices different

All cultures have some values in common Without some values societies couldn’t exist Protection of young Prohibition against free killing Lying So, all must have at least these values

Lessons from Cultural Relativism Even though it looks like CR is false, there are important lessons to draw from it Become aware of our own prejudices The idea is that discomfort is often a result of thinking there is something wrong with their action; but on reflection it is exposed as just cultural conditioning.

BREAKING FROM TRADITION? IS there a problem here? How hard would be to break from tradition? To become a painter in a capitalist world Pressure from parents, peers, others?