Popular Ethical Theories Relativism as defined by Merriam-Webster (2013)‚ is a theory that knowledge is relative to the limited nature of the mind and the condition of knowing. Philosophically‚ relativism references that all points of view are equally credible‚ and that all truth is related to the individual (Westacott‚ 2005). Relativism can more specifically be defined as “the nature and existence of items of knowledge‚ qualities‚ values or logical entities non-trivially obtain their natures
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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
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that they believe the customs of the other countries are backward and need improvement. “Other” women are criticized for allowing themselves to live in such an oppressed state‚ and their traditional cultural resources are seldom recognized. In addition‚ there is a tendency to dichotomize cross-cultural information; if women are suppressed or brutalized in the other culture‚ then they must be liberated in this country‚ and when we ask American students to explore how the international economic system
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Ethical Absolutism and Ethical Relativism Absolutism and relativism are basically two opposing approaches to ethics. Absolutism is considered more objective while Relativism is more subjective. Both ethical approaches have a number of strengths and weakness. Absolutism is an ethical perspective that everything is certain. Actions are always considered right or wrong. An absolutist follows the notion that there is a singular moral standard that people should abide by. This is a dogmatic approach to
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RUNNING HEADING: ETHICAL (MORAL) RELATIVISM Ethical (Moral) Relativism Exploring Kohlberg’s stance on Ethical Relativism JebbehG Ethics in Contemporary Society | PHI101 A01 July 17‚ 2013 Introduction Presently‚ Americans are comfortable relating ethics to individuality. Often times‚ American citizens expresses their right of freedoms to enhance their own sense of ethics or relativity. In defining relativism‚ moral principles are a matter of personal feelings and
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Ethical Relativism Cannibalism‚ what do you think of it? Is it morally correct? Does the theory of ethical relativism support it or does it knock it down? Throughout this paper I am going to evaluate the pros and cons of ethical relativism for a case concerning cannibalism. An American man by the name of Daniel went to South America‚ for the reasons of writing a book on it and publishing it in the United States‚ to study a native tribe and to try to become part of it. While Daniel was studying
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and approach the studies of cultures using Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism. The definition of these terms is very different in many ways when describing cultures. Cultural Relativism is defined as the perspective that any aspect of a culture must be viewed and evaluated within the context of that culture. While‚ ethnocentrism‚ is defined as making value judgments based on one’s own culture when describing aspects of another culture. Cultural relativism is much more commonly used by anthropologist
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Ethical relativism is a concept in which most simple minded individuals adhere to. As a broad definition‚ ethical relativism is a theory where morals are determined by each person rather than a general census. This can be divided up into two parts; ethical subjectivism and cultural relativism. Ethical subjectivism is described as moral judgments based on an individual’s personal values and feelings. To go beyond the individual‚ cultural relativism is a theory where beliefs are juxtaposed with
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Ethical relativism is the theory that morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture. That is‚ the moral norms of the society practiced depend on whether an action is right or wrong. But‚ the problem with moving from cultural perspective to cultural relativism is rather than saying‚ “we need to understand the morals of other cultures‚” it says‚ “we cannot judge the morals of other cultures‚” regardless of the reasons for their actions. The same action may be right in one society but be wrong
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In A Defense of Moral Relativism‚ Ruth Benedict argues that normal behavior varies from society to society; therefore‚ what’s morally right for one society can be morally wrong for another. To support this argument‚ Benedict mentions how certain cultures practice what’s “abnormal” to us without any difficulty. She goes further to give examples of traits that are abnormal to us such as‚ “sadism or delusions grandeur or of persecution” (Benedict‚ 1934‚ p.1) and concludes saying that “these abnormal
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