Note: throughout the site further reading will be taken from six books , so that the students can buy one or two additional books and use them throughout the course.  These books are generally recognised as being the best on ethics, targeted at undergraduate level, but quite accessible for A level students. Weblinks have been carefully evaluated to give a one touch access to a vast library of good material, graduated from the one-page summary to more complex articles.  Finally you can test yourself!

Level 1 reading:

Barclay W. (1971) ch 4
Gensler H. (1998) ch 1
Jones et al (2006) pgs 10-11
Mackie J.L. (1990) ch 1 esp pgs 36-8
Morton A. (2004) ch 4*
Pojman L. (2006) ch2
Rachels J. (1993) ch2, 5

*recommended

Extracts (available on www.philosophicalinvestigations.co.uk/topics/moralrelativism/extracts)

Extract 1: Sparta – they practised infanticide but their attitude to women is much more liberal. How culture affects values.

Extract 2: The Ik, Colin Turnbull describes what he observes in this Borneo tribe. A very different set of values arise from their culture.

Extract 3: Seven Pillars, TE Lawrence tells of the day he had to shoot a man he’d just saved.  Is he a relativist?

Extract 4: Primo Levi describes a “selection” in the Auschwitz sanatorium.  Is this a description of absolute evil?

Level 2 readings (from Bristol University degree course)

Moral relativism is a form of moral scepticism (see Moral Scepticism) as relativists deny that there are universal moral truths. They do not deny that there are moral truths, they merely insist that moral truths are relative to particular perspectives (e.g., a culture). The most common argument advanced for moral relativism appeals to the variability of moral codes and practices. The difficulty, however, is explaining how these descriptive facts support relativism as variability of belief holds in other domains (e.g., science) where relativism seems less plausible. Nor is it as easy as the relativist may think to support the descriptive claims. Many make mistaken normative inferences from the supposed truth of moral relativism-such as that the truth of moral relativism supports toleration of other cultures and ways of life (if the relativist is right, then toleration is just another value which is relative like any other).

Benedict, R. Patterns of Culture
Harman , G.and J.J. Thomson, Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity
Harman, G.‘Moral Relativism Defended’, Philosophical Review (1975)
Harman, G. ‘Is There a Single True Morality’ in D. Copp. and M. Zimmerman (eds.), Morality, Reason, and Truth
Ladd, J. (ed.), Ethical Relativism
Mackie (1977) chapter 3
Plato, Protagoras
Putnam, H. ‘Bernard Williams and the Absolute Conception of the World’ in Renewing Philosophy
Williams, B. Morality
Williams, B. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, chapter 10
Wong, D. Moral Relativity
Wong, D. in Singer ed (1994) chapter 39

Want more? For an excellent bibliography on relativism followed by a clear and concise summary of the issues, though more advanced in its concepts, go to:

http://www.london.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/students/philosophy/ba_course_materials/ba_ethics_relativism_00.pdf

Powerpoints

Lawrence Hinman of San Diego University has produced an excellent, thought-provoking powerpoint arguing for a middle way between absolutism and relativism, which he calls pluralism.

http://ethics.sandiego.edu/presentations/Theory/Relativism/index.asp

Self-test:

For ten self-test questions on ethical relativism, with thoughtful and concise answers, based on a chapter by W.T. Stace (Stace, W.T. (1973). Cultural Relativism Versus Ethical Absolutism. In P. Davis, ed., Introduction to Moral Philosophy, pp. 190-204. Columbus: C. E. Merrill Publishing Company), go to:

http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/stace.html

Harry Gensler has a very useful multiple choice quizz (self-marking) on cultural relativism, go to:

http://www.harryhiker.com/et/et-01-00.htm

For a self-test tutorial quizz based on Louis Pojman’s chapter 2 on ethical relativism, go to this site, and find chapter 2 in the chapter menu.  Then on the lefthand side click on tutorial quizz.  There are also excellent “questions for reflection”:

http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=9780495502357&discipline_number=10

Try this question and answer

For a very clear question and answer discussion that goes to the heart of the absolute/relative debate, go to:

http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/stace.html

Level 1 internet sites: the top three starting points – For a concise one-page summary of cultural relativism, go to

http://www.harryhiker.com/exercise.htm

For a short, clear introduction from Santa Clara University go to:http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n2/relativism.html

For a very good survey (highly recommended) and introduction to relativism, from the University of Lancaster:

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/philosophy/courses/100/100relativism.htm

For a good discussion of absolute values go to:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abs_true3.htm

A critique of relativism go to:

http://www.equip.org/articles/philosophical-problems-with-moral-relativism

Level 2 internet sites:An introduction to ethics, covering a wide sweep of theories (for the more advanced student!), includes a useful page on relativism:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/#SH1a

A fascinating and ongoing blog debate on the impossibility of unconditional love by American academic Daniel Fincke (which if he’s right will prove fatal to Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics and the love command of the New Testament) go to:

http://camelswithhammers.com/2009/07/24/conceptual-problems-for-the-ideal-of-unconditional-love/

For an excellent bibliography on relativism followed by a clear and concise summary of the issues, though more advanced in its concepts, go to:

http://www.london.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/students/philosophy/ba_course_materials/ba_ethics_relativism_00.pdf

Level 3 internet sites

Chris Gowan’s (heavier going) survey from the Stanford Encyclopaedia:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-relativism/

An interesting polemic against moral relativism – for discussion – go to:

http://radicalacademy.com/ethicsmyth.htm

A more advanced article attacking the dualism of the absolute/relative distinction go to:

http://www.drury.edu/ess/reason/reason1.html

A well-argued discussion of the relationship between relativism and tolerance, with good quotes from a variety of scholars, go to:

http://markressler.com/doc/Relativism-and-Tolerance-Revisited.pdf

For a paper comparing and contrasting the views of Ruth Benedict “morals are socially approved habits” and Rachels “there is a shared basis for right and wrong” go to:http://qc-cuny.academia.edu/GPHemsley/Papers/367954/Cultural_Relativism_James_Rachels_vs._Ruth_Benedict