ETHICAL RELATIVISM

Learning Plan 5- Ethical theoriesTom McCormick, Lindsay Rozek, Jenna Hofman, and Jamie SabishOctober 27, 2008

SUMMARIZE The doctrine that

states that there are no absolute truths in ethics and that what is morally right or wrong varies from person to person or from society to society.

SUMMARIZE In ethics, the belief

that nothing is objectively right or wrong and that the definition of right or wrong depends on the prevailing view of a particular individual, culture, or historical period.

CRITICISMS

Relativism doesn’t allow for the existence of an absolute set of ethics.

CRITICISM CONT. Relativism deprives us of any means of

raising moral objections against social customs, provided that those customs are approved by the codes of the societies in which they exist.

SOME IMPORTANT INSIGHTS:

Relativism is tolerant and understanding.

We should not pass judgment on practices in other cultures when we don’t understand them.

Sometimes reasonable people may differ on what’s morally acceptable.

BENEDICT SPINOZA “Nothing is

inherently good or evil.”

One of the greatest rationalists of the 17th century.

18th century Enlightenment

IMPORTANT PEOPLE Franz Boas, and his students, Ruth

Benedict, Melville J Herskovits, and Margaret Mead challenged the fact that Western culture was the norm.

They explicitly articulated influential forms of moral relativism in the twentieth century. Making it aware that every culture is different with either own morals.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Naïve Faith Our beliefs = our

perspective No moral FACTS

CURRENT ETHICAL DILEMMA How different cultures view healthcare.

Muslims Americans Chinese

ETHICAL DILEMMA CONT.Genital Mutilation in Northern Africa and Southern Arabia

QUESTIONS

Should we let other people live the way they want to, or should we be concerned with what they are doing in other countries? Such as Indonesia, Africa ect.

Video Clip

QUESTIONS

Do we need fully understanding to judge someone, or something done in a different culture?

QUESTION Does Tolerance seem like a good policy

where differences between cultures are concerned?

Remember our morals are not just personal they’re also social.