Session 3 Online Class Notes 1-1 PDF

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Subjectivism, Relativism, and Emotivism – Chapter 2 Class notes that corresponds with the online Ethics PHIL 112 Session 3 PowerPoint presentation How Relative Are Your Ethics? 

Read the story which deals with the controversial cultural practice of killing ones elderly father, found in Chapter 2, page 25, in your text Doing Ethics. In response to this story, consider what your opinion might be regarding the morality of killing ones elderly father if you truly believed this deed was both culturally sanctioned and would significantly enhance his experience in the next life. Your response to this question is likely to reveal not only your view of what we might call “mercy killing”, but your overall approach to morality as well.

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Consider, for example, the following three views related to “mercy killing” on the next several slides. Which best represents your view?

Mercy Killing – Three Views 1. Do you believe the instance of “mercy killing” as described in the previous story is morally wrong; wrong even if the behavior has for generations been understood to be morally correct, the victim is willing, and the deed is both sanctioned and celebrated by the culture? If this is your view, “you implicitly embrace moral objectivism, the doctrine that some moral norms or principles are valid for everyone – universal, in other words – regardless of how cultures may differ in their moral outlooks.” (20) 2. Or… would you suggest that if “mercy killing” has for generations been understood to be morally correct, the victim is willing, and the deed is both sanctioned and celebrated by the by the culture then it is morally permissible for that particular society. If you believe this, then you affirm cultural relativism. In this view, “an action is morally right if one’s culture approves of it. Moral rightness and wrongness are therefore relative to cultures.” (20)

Mercy Killing – Three Views 1. Moral Objectivism: Never or always right/wrong. 2. Cultural Relativism: Rightness or wrongness is determined by cultural opinions. 3. Or…. Subjective Relativism: A person holding this view might say: “mercy killing may be right (or wrong) for you, but it is most certainly not right (or wrong) for me.” In this view there is no objective morality, and cultures or societies do not determine right or wrong. Those who hold this perspective believe that each individual determines what actions are morally right, and what actions are what are morally wrong – regardless of cultural perspectives or objective moral laws. – 

What would be the basis for judging morality with this view?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each view?

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Mercy Killing – Three Views 1. Moral Objectivism: Never or always right/wrong. 2. Cultural Relativism: Rightness or wrongness is determined by cultural opinions. 3. Subjective Relativism: Rightness or wrongness is determined by individual opinions. 

“The question that you should ask (and that ethics can help you answer) is not whether you in fact accept any of these views, but whether you are justified in doing so. Let us see then where an examination of reasons for and against them will lead.” (21)

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Let’s start with Subjective Relativism…..

Subjective Relativism 

Subjective Relativism

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“Subjective relativism says that action X is right for Ann if she approves of it yet wrong for Greg if he disapproves of it. Thus action X can be right and wrong – right for Ann and wrong for Greg. A person’s approval of an action makes it right (or wrong). Action X is not objectively right (or wrong).It is right (or wrong) relative to individual opinion.” (21)

Subjective Relativism 

Agree, or Disagree: History is clear that the German dictator “Adolf Hitler approved (and ordered) the extermination of vast numbers of innocent people, including six million Jews.” (22) According to subjective relativism, if Hitler believed his actions to be morally right, then they would be morally right. A true subjective ethical relativist, therefore, would not have any moral or ethical reason for condemning Hitler’s actions. They might say: “I wouldn’t exterminate innocent people, but just because it’s morally wrong for me doesn’t mean that it was necessarily morally wrong for Hitler.” –

What are the problems associated with embracing this view?

Subjective Relativism 

“Many people claim they are subjective relativists until they realize the implications of the doctrine, implications that are at odds with our common-sense moral experience.” (22)

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“In practice, subjective relativism is a difficult view to hold consistently. At times, of course, you can insist that an action is right for you but wrong for someone else. But you may also find yourself saying something like… ‘What Hitler did was wrong’ - and what you mean is that what Hitler did was objectively wrong, not just wrong relative to your own personal ethical view.” (23)

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Cultural Relativism 

To many people, the idea that morality is relative to culture, or cultural relativism, is obvious. Modern research has helped us understand that the moral practices of people in other cultures are often quite different from our own. In some cultures, for example, it is morally permissible to (these and other examples are found in Doing Ethics, pp. 23-28): –

Take the life of an infant at birth.

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Be married to several different persons at the same time (polygamy)

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Avenge the death of one person by killing another.

Cultural Relativism The following argument is used by those who support cultural relativism (24). Review the argument, and see if you can find any points that are not based upon sound logical reasoning. –

People’s judgments about right and wrong differ from culture to culture.

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If people’s judgments about right and wrong differ from culture to culture, then right and wrong are relative to culture, and there are no objective moral principles.

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Therefore, right and wrong are relative to culture, and there are no objective moral principles.

Cultural Relativism 

“Premise 2 says that because there are disagreements among cultures about right and wrong, there must not be any universal standards of right and wrong. But even if the moral judgments of people in various cultures do differ, such difference in itself does not show that morality is relative to culture… Suppose Culture A endorses infanticide (the killing of infants), but Culture B does not. Such a disagreement does not demonstrate that both cultures are equally correct or that there is no objectively correct answer.” (24-25). –

Do you agree, or disagree: If infanticide is objectively proven to be morally “wrong”, then it would be logically impossible for it to also be morally “right” even if it is allowed in another culture?

Cultural Relativism 

Reflect on this: Approximately 58 nations actively practice capital punishment, with 95 countries having abolished it. If you were strongly opposed to capital punishment, would you be in favor if you lived in a culture where it was practiced?

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Or, if you are strongly in favor of capital punishment, would you be opposed to it if you lived in a culture where it was prohibited? Why or why not?

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What do you think: Is capital punishment wrong simply because a majority of the nations disapprove, or are there objective reasons why it may be considered right or wrong regardless of cultural opinions?

Cultural Relativism 

Consider Hitler again: “Say the German society approved of Hitler’s actions..then the Holocaust was morally permissible. If you’re a cultural relativist, you cannot legitimately condemn these monstrous deeds. Because they were approved by their respective societies, they were morally justified. They were just as morally justified as the socially sanctioned activities of Albert Schweitzer, Jonas Salk, or Florence Nightingale. But this seems implausible (and ridiculous!). We do in fact sometimes criticize other cultures and believe that it is legitimate to do so.” (27) –

Is this argument strong enough to challenge the logic of the ethical theory known as Cultural Relativism? Why or why not?...