Relativism and Morality Na’Quisha Powell SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility Instructor: Erin Schouten March 25‚ 2013 There are moral choices made on a daily basis‚ no matter the culture or race‚ people make these types of choices. The moral choices we make based on our cultures can be viewed on a scale of right and wrong by other cultures. In the writing of “Some Moral Minima”‚ Lenn E. Goodman views several aspects of morality and relativism‚ and argues that certain
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What is Relativism? Relativistic Stances Relativism can be considered as a philosophical stance which assumes that there is always a claim relative to a dependent or an independent parameter. A relative truth‚ a relative aspect of reality‚ a belief which is relative to a cause and relativistic ethics come under the dependent parameters category. On the other hand‚ independent parameters include factors that influence a relativistic stance such as time‚ gender‚ religion‚ location‚ state of mind
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Moral Relativism Moral relativism is an essential aspect of life. Although in excess it can be a social and moral poison. Moral relativism is the position one must hold on what is wrong and what is right in life. On the other aspect‚ the thought is fundamentalism. It is more a less a very dictated way in which every person knows their right and wrong’s. In every way fundamentalism is a very much a one way street with no exists. Therefore‚ it is very straightforward and there is no room for moral
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Cultural Relativism This essay covers various aspects of cultural relativism and its argument to readers. Cultural relativism is a theory‚ which mainly concentrates on differences in values and moral beliefs of different people. To help explain the concept of cultural relativism I have used James Rachels argument. The main idea of cultural relativism is that "Different cultures have different moral codes" (Rachels 652). This means that there is no thing as universal truth ’‚ and what is right
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618). This claim is known as Cultural Relativism. "Cultural Relativism‚ as it has been called‚ challenges our ordinary belief in the objectivity and universality of moral truth. There is no such thing as universal truth in ethics: there there are only the various cultural codes‚ and nothing more. Moreover‚ our own code has no special status‚ it is merely one among many" (Rachels 618). It is clear that the answer to the question of ethics is‚ Cultural Relativism. The subject of murder is probably the
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Understanding other cultures without making judgments about the way they do things or the way they understand and react to things is the basic concept of cultural relativity. The importance of this idea is demostrated by Richard B. Lee in his story about the Christmas feast with the !Kung. In this story Lee‚ a social anthropologist living with the tribe‚ experiences a misunderstanding that almost caused him to pack his belongings and leave the bushmen which were the subject of his study
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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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positives and negatives regarding the concept of cultural relativism‚ but his overall position is that cultural relativism is not a strong philosophy. On the flip side of that Immanuel Kant has a completely different ethical theory that is based around deontology. Despite its positives cultural relativism cannot be defended against Rachel’s criticism‚ but Kant’s ethical theory cannot necessarily defeat cultural relativism. Cultural Relativism is the idea that moral practices and social norms change
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We frequently make moral judgments about the actions of others. We proclaim that things like removing a wallet from someone else’s pocketbook on a crowded train; flying airplanes into the Twin Towers; and intervening (or not) in the Syrian war are wrong. According to Gilbert Harman‚ such judgments about people’s actions are defective because they lack relativity to the individual’s moral framework. (Harman‚ 1975) In ‘Some Moral Minima’ Goodman argues that “there are certain things that are simply
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This premise of cultural relativism shows prefigure of moral relativism. Moral relativism can be generally grouped into three categories; (1) descriptive moral relativism‚ (2) normative moral relativism‚ and (3) meta-ethical moral relativism. Descriptive relativism‚ according to Frankena‚ is the idea ‘that the basic ethical beliefs of different people and societies are different and even conflicting’ [1973:109]. The second form of ethical relativism conceives the idea that ‘what is really right or
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