Moral Relativism Flashcards
(12 cards)
what is cultural relativism?
whether an action is wrong depends on a culture’s norms or attitudes
what is subjectivism?
what is right for an agent to do depends on that agent’s judgment concerning what is right for her to do
divine command theory branches from this — whether an action is wright or wrong depends on God’s attitudes
Speaker subjectivism: whether an action is wrong depends on that person’s attitude
What is the different questions we can ask about truths and facts? be able to distinguish the relative truths and facts from other questions
What is the truth? What is the fact?
straightforward answer to something
Can we know it? how
HOW
Opinions/beliefs/feelings about it
about your feelings
Is the fact mind dependent/relative?
usually answered with yes/no answer
Is relativism naturalist or non-naturalist?
naturalist
is the fact that murder is wrong is relative, is relative?
What is the argument for cultural relativism and its weaknesses?
The anthropological argument:
&
the argument from empiricism
what’s the anthropological argument?
P1: there is vast disagreement about morality
P2: if there is vast disagreement about morality, then morality is relative
C: Morality is relative
what is the argument from empiricism?
P1: we can’t see morality
P2: if we can’t see morality we can’t perform an experiment that tells us if murder is wrong
C: so, whether murder is wrong must be relative
What is ‘The Big Problem’ for subjectivism/ for cultural relativism?
say a nazi approves of what he is doing… What should he do? What would a good person do in this situation?
it has very implausible implications for the content of morality, one such is the acceptance of the statement “in nazi germany you should be a nazi”
What is the infallibility problem for subjectivism/ for cultural relativism?
How can two people be “right” when they both have drastically different views?
the inability to be wrong acc. to the relativist perpsective
I.e.: Jill and Cheryl’s case of seeing the billboard
not necessarily content based, it just says whatever your culture says is true is true (so you can’t criticize your culture) which seems implausible
What is the disagreement problem for subjectivism/ for cultural relativism?
If both agents are talking about a controversial moral topic from their perspective, how would there ever be any actual disagreement? they’re just voicing their personal opinions, not trying to convince the other person to take on their belief.
What is the arbitrariness problem for subjectivism/ for cultural relativism?
a view of yours is arbitrary if it’s something you reach for no reason, but cultures don’t come to the view in a way that they reach for, so it’s arbitrary
has to do with moral justification (does relate to semantic theory though)
when you are saying “murder is wrong’ you are saying “i disapprove of murder” but this disapproval is based on nothing, so it’s arbitrary. An attitude is arbitrary if it’s not justified.
What is the many cultures problem for cultural relativism?
If you belong to multiple cultures, which culture do you follow? these cultures will likely disagree with some — so which culture is authoritative? None? Can you not pick between? Hence: arbitrary!
a relativist would have to deny being a part of more than one culture, but this can’t be true
