1. Fallacies

2. ‘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’

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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!

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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?