Pojman Ethical Relativism

Ethical Relativism is the belief that nothing is objectively right or wrong and that the meaning of what is right and wrong depends on the individual and culture. Pojman breaks down Ethical Relativism into 2 main concepts: The Diversity Theory and the Dependency Theory. The Diversity Theory addresses the concept of what is morally right and wrong varies from society to society; therefore, there is no universal moral principles that all societies accept. For example, Homosexuality in the Middle East is a forbidden practice, while in ancient Greek culture, it was said to be a accepted practice. The Dependency Theory says that all moral principles receive their validity from cultural acceptance. For example, in America, having more than one spouse
is illegal, while in African culture, having more than one spouse is accepted. While analyzing these two concepts, Pojman gives us four reasons why he does not agree with Ethical Relativism: Ethical Relativism leads to absurd consequences, Ethical Relativism collapses into subjectivism, Ethical Relativism is inconsistent, and Ethical Relativism fails to help solve conflicts between cultures.
Ethical Relativism leads to absurd consequences because it is asking us to turn a blind eye as to what is going between another culture. Ethical Relativism believes that one culture should be tolerant of another culture's different morality choices, because the mass majority of that society believes it was morally right. Pojman brings up, that if this concept is true, then that means that the most heinous crimes such as the Holocaust, is morally right, because the majority of the Germany society believe it was the right thing to do. If we were to follow the beliefs of Ethical Relativism, that would mean that during the Holocaust,we would have no right to step forward. But Podjman was not the only one to oppose against Ethical Relativism. Mary Midgley argues that ethical relativism agrees to the truth's of moral isolationism. Moral Isolationism is the view that one society should not worry about what is going on outside of their immediate
group. Midgley states that relativist believe that one society does not understand thoroughly the moral concepts of another society; therefore, that society does not have the right to place judgement on the other, and should respect their decisions. Midgley believes that this way of thinking is wrong and can lead to nihilism, the rejection of religion and moral principle.I agree with Midgley's critique because, If we have to isolate ourselves from another society, how can we fully understand their culture and our own, if there is nothing we can compare it too. I believe to really have a full understanding of our own culture's morals, that we need to know about other societies beliefs. I do not believe in objective moral truths. Because even if everyone could believe in the same moral concept, we all have the free will to choose what we believe is right and wrong. I also do not believe there are universal human rights, because even though the United Nations Declaration of Human rights states that ll men are equal, and allowed freedom, we still have rules and regulations, that hinders us from these rights.