Objectivity, Subjectivity and relativism Flashcards
what does moral realism hold?
that there are objective moral values and the truth/falsity of them doesn’t depend on our beliefs or feelings
what 2 forms does moral realism come in and what are these?
ethical intuitionism - holds there are objective truths and we sometimes have intuitions of these moral truths
ethical naturalism - holds there are objective moral properties reducible to entirely non-ethical properties. we have empirical knowledge of moral truths
what does moral anti-realism hold?
that their are no objective values
there are 2 different forms of moral anti-realism which are what? and give examples of the types
- ethical subjectivism which holds that moral statements are made true or false by the attitudes of the speaker or those observing. there are different versions of subjectivism:
moral subjectivism - for something to be morally right it must be approved of by society
individualism - supported by protagoras - there are many scales of good and evil - non-cognitivism which holds that ethical sentences are neither true or false because they don’t assert genuine propositions:
emotivism - ethical claims aren’t designed to make factual claims but to invoke certain emotional responses - ayer - statements such as ‘abortion is wrong’ simply says ‘i don’t like abortion’
prescriptivism - hare says moral statements function like imperatives so ‘killing is wrong’ means ‘don’t kill’ and is a moral utterance that has no truth but prescribe attitudes to others.
what is absolutism?
the view that ethical principles can be established a priori, independent of experience because intrinsically right, irrespective of outcome
absolutism is also know and hard universalism which is? what is the opposite of this?
where there is one universal moral code that doesn’t acknowledge the possibility of more than one set of morals
moral nihilism - claims there are no moral truths
give an example of an absolutist approach and of a time where it’s been undermined
some religious groups believe homosexuality is fundamentally wrong irrespective of changing norms in society
however today almost no religious group endorses slavery whereas in the past it was considered perfectly ethical
explain graded absolutism and give an example
if there is conflict to obey 2 absolutes, the duty to obey the higher one exempts the individual from obeying the lower one
e.g. Corrie Ten Boom was justified in lying to the Nazis about the jews her family were hiding because protecting lives is a higher moral value
what id moral relativism?
we cannot reach a consensus on objective morality because moral values are rooted in social custom so whether moral judgments are true or false is relative to the particular moral framework of the community
how is moral diversity explained?
by the fact that moral beliefs are matters of opinion that very from culture to culture - cultural relativism
the idea that conceptions of morality should be based on how people actually behave is called………, rather than on an ideal standard of how people should behave which is …….., because there is no right or wrong was of behaving
de facto values
ideal values
give an example of somone who is an existentialist relative and what they believe
Satre
they hold that a personal and subjective moral core lies at the heart of individual moral acts, public morality reflects social convention and only personal, subjective morality can express true authenticity
what is cultural relativism?
the principle that an individuals actions should be interpreted in the context of their culture
what is cultural relativism intended for?
not to justify the moral goodness of an action but to help understand the context of the action
what are some implications of cultural relativism?
that there is no point to moral debate, since opposing moral claims are true in an anti realist sense, relative to the culture from which they emerge
