Moral Relativism

1. Ethical Relativism

2. I’m skeptical about cultural relativism

3. Concepts • Reductio ad absurdem argument • False dichotomy • Ethical Universalism • Ethical Relativism • Reflective Equilibrium

4. Subjectivism: Truth is relative to individuals • The view that…whatever anyone believes is true. • Plato: “Protagoras…admitting…that everybody’s opinion is true, must acknowledge the truth of his opponents’ belief about his own belief, where they think he is wrong.”

5. They can’t both be right San Diego is north of Los Angeles. You’re wrong!

6. Argument against subjectivism 1. Suppose subjectivism were true: If a person believes that P, then P [assume subjectivism for reductio] 2. x believes that P and y believes that x is wrong in believing that P, i.e. y believes that not-P [people disagree] 3. P and not-P [by 1 and 2] 4. Subjectivism is false [reducio: given that people disagree, subjectivism implies a contradiction]

7. Is Ethics a Game Without Rules? Ethical Relativism

8. • There are no true universal moral judgments. • Moral judgments: – __ is wrong – __ is right – __ is obligatory – __ is good – __ is bad – Etc. Ethical Relativism

9. False Dichotomy • The fallacy of false dichotomy is committed when the arguer claims that his conclusion is one of only two options, when in fact there are other possibilities. • The arguer then goes on to show that the ‘only other option’ is clearly outrageous, and so his preferred conclusion must be embraced. If the Ten Commandments aren’t absolutely true with no exceptions then anything goes!

10. Thou shalt not lie. What about white lies? Cute outfit! I wouldn’t be caught dead in that rig.

11. Thou shalt not steal. What about Jean Valjean stealing that loaf of bread when he was starving?

12. The Sabbath was made for man– not man for the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them… [Mark 2:23 -27]

13. NO! Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. I guess this means that anything goes, right?

14. Ethical Relativism vs. Ethical Universalism • Ethical relativists hold that there is no kind of action that is always, everywhere and for everyone right or wrong. • Ethical universalists hold that there is some (at least one) kind of action that is always, everywhere and for everyone right or wrong. • This “kind” can be highly abstract! • Ethical universalists do not claim that every kind of action is either always right or always wrong!

15. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! You break your promise to give a madman a gun on Tuesday. • Promise-breaking • Breaking a promise when keeping it would have very bad consequences • Doing something on a Tuesday • Doing an action that brings about the greatest good for the greatest number • Doing an action with the intention of preventing someone else from being harmed…

16. What features of an action are morally relevant? • We ask: what features of an action are morally relevant? – Surely not, e.g. the day on which it was done • We ask: what are the right-making or wrong-making features of actions? • Every action belongs to many kinds – Which kinds are morally relevant?

17. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! Promise-breaking

18. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! Promise-breaking Promise-breaking when keeping the promise would have very bad consequences

19. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! Promise-breaking Promise-breaking when keeping the promise would have very bad consequences Tuesday actions

20. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! Promise-breaking Promise-breaking when keeping the promise would have very bad consequences Tuesday actions Actions that bring about the greatest good for the greatest number

21. Kinds of actions An action can belong to many different kinds! Promise-breaking Promise-breaking when keeping the promise would have very bad consequences Tuesday actions Actions that bring about the greatest good for the greatest number Actions intended to prevent others from being harmed

22. Ethical Universalism • To be a ethical universalist you only have to agree that there is some kind of action that’s always right or always wrong. • The relevant kind may be something very general, e.g. “doing something that brings about the greatest good for the greatest number.”

23. 23 Ambiguity 1 • When people talk about universalism, some mean a universal rule (thou shalt not kill) and others a universal principle (like love, or respect for others’ feelings, or, as in the previous slide, the good of the greatest happiness for the greatest number. 23

24. Is ethics a game without rules? • Reflective equilibrium: theory construction in ethics is comparable to theory construction in science • We get data–our “moral intuitions” about real and imaginary cases • We generalize • We test our generalizations against further data • We keep going back and forth until we achieve a “reflective equilibrium”

25. A sample theory to test The Wiccan Rede: Harm none

26. A case of easy rescue What is “harm”? Failing to help in some cases when we don’t actually do harm can be wrong.

27. Setting a bad example Even when an action doesn’t directly harm anyone it may still make others worse off by setting a bad example, establishing a bad precedent or undermining institutions that are in the public interest.

28. Another sample theory: Utilitarianism • Principle: an act is right if it maximizes utility. • “Utility” is understood as desire-satisfaction, pleasure or happiness. • Consider moral intuitions that support the theory. • Consider those that are go against the theory (example: the promise to the dead man problem). • What should we do if intuitions go against the theory: – reject the intuitions and keep the theory? – reject the theory in favour on one that explains our intuitions? – modify the theory to accommodate our intuitions?

29. The Promise to the Dead Man Case Promise that when I’m dead you’ll give me a decent burial

30. Maximizing utility A good Utilitarian cuts up the body and uses it as fish bait. The greatest good for the greatest number!

31. The Moral of this Story • Even if end we agree to disagree, we can reason about moral issues. • Ethics is not a game without rules – It is not merely “subjective” – It is not just a matter of personal feelings – It is not something we have to take on faith

32. “Cultural Relativism” means different things… T 1. People’s beliefs, attitudes, tastes, etc. are significantly affected by their culture–and people in different cultures have very different beliefs, attitudes, tastes, etc. T 2. Methodological cultural relativism: cultures should be studied on their own terms. F 3. Actions are right or wrong to the extent that they conform or don’t conform to cultural norms.

33. Cultural Relativism: reflections • Actions that are wrong may be excusable and people that do them may not be blameworthy. • Even if an action is wrong, it doesn’t follow that it would be right to stop people from doing it. • Practices that produce good results in one culture may not produce good results in another, e.g. polygamy.

34. Countries where polygamy is legal

35. Would legalizing polygamy maximize utility in the UK?

36. Asking these questions assumes a universal standard! • An ethical universalist may consistently hold that polygamy is ok in one context but not ok in another. • Because he may hold that what makes an action right is something that holds across all cultures . . . • But that whereas a given kind of action has that right- making property on one context it doesn’t have that property in another.

37. Human Rights: the hard question

38. Different Questions Can you blame them? Should you stop them? Is it wrong?

39. Quine speaks… Truth, says the cultural relativist, is culture-bound. But if it were, then he, within his own culture, ought to see his own culture-bound truth as absolute. He cannot proclaim cultural relativism without rising above it, and he cannot rise above it without giving it up.

40. Problems with Cultural Relativism • Who is my neighbour? (The problem of overlapping cultures) • Some practices are just plain wrong • The paradox of tolerance

41. The Paradox of Tolerance • The ethical relativist cannot hold that everyone everywhere should be tolerant without contradicting himself! • If the ethical relativist holds that actions are right if they conform to cultural norms then he must hold that people in intolerant societies ought to be intolerant!

42. When in Rome… do as the Romans do

43. The Moral of the Story • Relativism isn’t as good as its cracked up to be: “a little learning is a dangerous thing”. • Some forms of relativism are logically problematic. • We can accommodate our intuitions and commitments (about tolerance, about not being dogmatic, etc.) without buying into any form of relativism.

44. Don’t wish for Ethical Relativism… …you might just get it The End