James Rachels 1941 – 2003 Philosopher by trade Argues against relativism.

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Presentation transcript:

James Rachels 1941 – 2003 Philosopher by trade Argues against relativism

Cultural Diversity Argument 1. Culture X believes action A is required. 2. Culture Y believes action A is impermissible. 3. The two cultures disagree. 4. If two cultures disagree, there is no truth of the matter. Thus, there is no truth about the permissibility of action A.

Relativism and Subjectivism Relativism: The truth of a moral claim is determined by the beliefs of the culture. The truth varies from culture to culture. Subjectivism: The truth of a moral claim is determined by the beliefs of the individual. Different people can have different moral truths.

Relativism Descriptive: It just tells us what people believe, but not whether they’re right or wrong. Normative: It tells us that the truth really is tied to what people believe.

General Version 1.Different cultures have different moral beliefs. 2. Thus, there is no universal truth in ethics.

Rachels The question: Is the argument valid? Premise 1 in the general version is about what people believe or accept. Premise 2 is about whether there are moral facts. There is no valid rule of inference that allows us to determine how the world is based on what people believe about it.

Are the Premises True? All cultures accept some basic beliefs. Do not kill innocent people; care for the young; etc. A culture that did not have these beliefs would not last long

Moral or Historical Disagreement? Culture X thinks God said to do A. Culture Y thinks God said not to do A. The disagreement is not about whether one should obey God; it is about what God said. “You should obey God” is moral “God said such and such” is historical

There are some universal values Descriptive Cultures generally care for their young Cultures generally prohibit murder ( at least within the tribe) Normative Cultures without these values would not survive. Cultures must have these values.

Costs and Cautions of Relativism Costs We cannot condemn forced genital mutilation and other practices we deem wrong. They’re not really wrong. Child molestation is not really wrong. Caution Be careful about how we evaluate practices. ‘Different’ does not equal ‘wrong’ but that does not mean nothing is really wrong. Do not excuse our own practices from evaluation.