Podcast
Questions and Answers
According to moral relativism, as presented in introductory ethics textbooks, what primarily determines the morality of an action?
According to moral relativism, as presented in introductory ethics textbooks, what primarily determines the morality of an action?
- Its alignment with established legal principles.
- Whether it adheres to a universal ethical standard.
- Its contribution to overall societal well-being.
- Whether it is accepted by a person or group. (correct)
Why do many moral philosophers find the described variety of moral relativism unpersuasive?
Why do many moral philosophers find the described variety of moral relativism unpersuasive?
- It can lead to cultural misunderstandings.
- It requires extensive knowledge of cultural practices.
- It is difficult to apply in everyday situations.
- It denies the possibility of genuine moral disputes by asserting that conflicting views can be equally valid. (correct)
According to moral relativism, as it is portrayed, how do different societies' views on women's rights influence the discussion on moral standards?
According to moral relativism, as it is portrayed, how do different societies' views on women's rights influence the discussion on moral standards?
- They cause societies to converge on shared moral values.
- They highlight the need for cross-cultural dialogue.
- They negate the possibility of setting universal moral standards.
- They are considered equally correct within their respective societies, with no basis for external judgment. (correct)
What is the central assertion of extreme moral relativism regarding objective moral truths?
What is the central assertion of extreme moral relativism regarding objective moral truths?
What do anthropologists often associate with moral universalism?
What do anthropologists often associate with moral universalism?
What was the primary concern of the American Anthropological Association's Executive Board in 1947 regarding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Man?
What was the primary concern of the American Anthropological Association's Executive Board in 1947 regarding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Man?
Why do extreme versions of moral relativism appeal to cultural anthropologists?
Why do extreme versions of moral relativism appeal to cultural anthropologists?
What is the main risk associated with universalizing moral standards, according to the content?
What is the main risk associated with universalizing moral standards, according to the content?
What is the moral anthropologist Roy D'Andrade's opinion regarding the current moral model in anthropology?
What is the moral anthropologist Roy D'Andrade's opinion regarding the current moral model in anthropology?
Why do moral relativists recoil at extreme characterizations of their doctrine?
Why do moral relativists recoil at extreme characterizations of their doctrine?
What is the primary goal of moral universalists in anthropology?
What is the primary goal of moral universalists in anthropology?
What caution did Montaigne offer readers regarding their own culture when evaluating other societies?
What caution did Montaigne offer readers regarding their own culture when evaluating other societies?
What did Montaigne believe regarding the so-called cannibals of La France Antartique?
What did Montaigne believe regarding the so-called cannibals of La France Antartique?
What message did Clifford Geertz emphasize from Montaigne's essay at the American Anthropological Association Meeting?
What message did Clifford Geertz emphasize from Montaigne's essay at the American Anthropological Association Meeting?
Why is it important to correct misunderstandings when engaging with cultural differences, as suggested by Montaigne?
Why is it important to correct misunderstandings when engaging with cultural differences, as suggested by Montaigne?
What is the challenge for cultural anthropologists inspired by Montaigne?
What is the challenge for cultural anthropologists inspired by Montaigne?
According to David Wong, how can one reconcile being a universalist and a 'situational' ethicist?
According to David Wong, how can one reconcile being a universalist and a 'situational' ethicist?
What type of action does David Wiggins state needs a preliminary step before judgement?
What type of action does David Wiggins state needs a preliminary step before judgement?
What point does David Wiggins make about a specification of the local framework?
What point does David Wiggins make about a specification of the local framework?
Name the term for the doctrine that human reason at some point reaches a limit?
Name the term for the doctrine that human reason at some point reaches a limit?
Flashcards
Moral Relativism
Moral Relativism
The view that something is right if a person or group accepts it as such. Human subjectivity is based on acceptance and rejection.
Central Principle of Moral Relativism
Central Principle of Moral Relativism
The principle that approving an act makes it morally right and that rejecting it makes it morally wrong, varying for each conceivable act or custom.
Subject-Relative Definitions
Subject-Relative Definitions
The assertion that each moral standard applies only to the person or group in question without universal validity. There are no objective moral truths.
Moral Universalism
Moral Universalism
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Objective Moral Charter
Objective Moral Charter
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Extreme Moral Relativism
Extreme Moral Relativism
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Primary Aims of Moral Relativists
Primary Aims of Moral Relativists
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Primary Aim of Objectivism
Primary Aim of Objectivism
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"Universalism without the Uniformity"
"Universalism without the Uniformity"
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Montaigne's Caution
Montaigne's Caution
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Moral Judgements
Moral Judgements
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Study Notes
- Moral relativism portrays human subjectivity through acceptance and rejection, stating approval makes an act right and disapproval makes it wrong.
- Extreme moral relativism rejects the basic principle of moral reasoning, which is that if one judges an action as wrong, another cannot be equally right in thinking it's right.
- Moral relativism asserts there is nothing objective about right or wrong when opinions differ.
- According to moral relativism, feelings, preferences, and social norms are the sole moral standards, lacking universal validity.
- Extreme moral relativism denies the possibility of genuine moral disputes.
- Moral universalism is characterized as objective, holding a single true and detailed moral charter for the ideal universal civilization.
- This charter has binding requirements for all people, regardless of subjective acceptances or cultural practices.
- Many anthropologists reject extreme moral universalism, associating it with religious or colonial interventions.
- Moral relativism is seen as a counter to moral universalism, opposing the imposition of one true moral charter.
- Proselytizing universalizers project their preferences widely, even among local elites.
- Some anthropologists now favor moral universalism, especially in the language of "natural rights," to critique patriarchy.
- Moral relativists aim to caution against haste and parochialism in moral judgments.
- Moral universalists aim for a common frame of reference for moral debates within and between societies.
- This essay seeks a conception of relativism as "universalism without uniformity."
- Anthropological fieldwork shows that moral judgments are ubiquitous and experienced as judgments about an objective moral charter.
- Arthur Lovejoy noted that moral judgments aren't just reporting emotions but claims about objective moral reality.
- Ethnographic research supports Lovejoy's observation with examples of moral objectivism in various cultures.
- Moral judgments are not solely objective representations of moral truths; they also involve aesthetic and emotional reactions.
- Fieldwork also documents that concrete moral judgments about actions don't spontaneously converge across cultural groups.
- Diversity in moral judgments doesn't necessarily contradict moral universalism.
- From a strictly descriptive view Clifford Geertz remarked that anthropological evidence on other societies has seemed like “a massive argument against absolutism in thought, morals and esthetic judgment"
- According to moral universalism, diversity in moral opinions isn't surprising and failure to recognize the true morality is seen as lower moral development.
- Leonard T. Hobhouse and Lawrence Kohlberg proposed moral development stage theories, subscribing to moral universalism and viewing liberal enlightenment thinking as closest to the one true moral charter.
- Echoes of liberal moral universalism appear in contemporary public policy forums like George W. Bush's post-9/11 address.
- Westermarck described the core idea of moral universalism as stating objectivity presupposes universality.
- Westermarck concedes that the universality of truth does not mean that everybody knows what is true and false.
- Montaigne cautioned to avoid vulgar opinions and use reason when judging others.
- Montaigne invited readers to see the dark side of their own way of life by means of various cultural comparisons.
- Geertz featured quotation from Montaigne: "Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice for we have no other criterion of reason than the example and idea of the opinions and customs of the country we live in."
- The overriding message of "On the Cannibals" is to caution about a very general human liability which is our unfortunate inclination to rush to judgment about others.
- The essay identifies a hybrid of moral relativism ("moral universalism without the uniformity").
- This moral relativism is appealing because it embraces working with a basic principle of all moral reasoning, namely that something cannot be both right and wrong at the same time.
- This principle is meant to assist anthropologists and to help them understand the true nature of the act we are judging while cautioning against spontaneous reactions of aversion to alien customs.
- There's a challenge for anthropologists inspired by Montaigne to answer why the peoples of the world disagree with each other on what is right and wrong without being bias and suggesting that those who disagree are either barbarians or those who willingly seek to promote vice over virtue.
- An illustration of global diversity in judements come from studies performed in Bhuabaneswar India and in Hyde Park community surrounding the University of Chicago.
- David Wong points out that it is not incoherent to "be a universalist and a 'situational' ethicist at the same time,"
- David Wiggins provides a provisional account of situational ethics where he indicates "No act or practice can be assessed as right or wrong, good or bad, etc. without the full specification of circumstances and context (context."
- Contextual specification is the preliminary that is ncessary to passing judgement in Wiggins contextualistic ethics and is necessary to understand what is being passed judgement upon.
- An example of this is Oriya Brahman judges that it is a greater evil for the firstborn son to get a haircut and eat chicken the day after his father's death than for doctors in a hospital to refuse to treat an accident victim, and must be understood contextually.
- Oriya Brahmans believe that every person has an immortal reincarnating soul and that when a person dies his or her soul strongly desires to detach itself from his or her corpse and go on its transmigratory journey.
- By eating chicken the first born son is failing in his moral duty of assisting the soul of his father who had just passed.
- David Wiggins make the point that "without such a specification of the local framework we (as innocent and untutored outsiders) in fact did not know what we were passing judgment on."
- The framework used by Oriya Brahmans for judging has reasons and those that adopt that worldview share those reasons.
- Cultural anthropologists who are attracted to cultural relativism ultimately trace the source of cross-cultural diversity in concrete moral judgments to differences in worldviews or beliefs and to the particular subset of universal goods privileged in any particular cultural or historical tradition of values.
- An alternative name for this version of relativism is moral pluralism is the doctrine that human reason at some point reaches a limit that allows for discretion as to which values or goods to privilege and how they should properly be applied in the light of local beliefs, interests, and social facts.
- Moral pluarists are out of respect for our rationality and therefore hold there is no single and complete rational ordering of morally relevant goods.
- It is also out of respect for the limits of our rationality that moral pluralists recognize that many universal existential and metaphysical questions relevant to the organization of a social life are cognitively undecidable and leave room for morally sensitive and reasonable truth-seeking mem- bers of different cultural traditions to disagree about which interpretive framework to employ in situating a course of action.
- Variations in concrete moral judgments of the many peoples of the world can be viewed as expressions of the many answers that are possible to the existential questions of the world.
- Human beings are not typically extreme relativists from the subjectivist variety and values or moral goods are universally viewed as undeniably good reasons.
- At the same time, the imagined moral truths or goods asserted in deliberative moral judgments around the world are many, not one.
- Studies have observed moral discourse and the objective moral character of an action can be established by connecting it through a chain of factual, means-ends, and causal reasoning to some argument-ending terminal good.
- On a worldwide scale the argument-ending terminal goods of deliberative moral judgments privileged in this or that cultural community are rich and diverse.
- Universalism without the uniformity is one way to describe the variety of relativism and there are many different classifying schemes like the "Big Three."
- Illiberality of a cultural practice is not necessarily an index of its immorality.
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