ipl-logo

Ethical Relativism And Egoism Essay

793 Words4 Pages

The two ethical theories that I truly understood and agreed with were Ethical Relativism and Egoism/Egotism. Ethical Relativism refers to cultural differences throughout the world regarding values. For example, in one culture society forces females to be covered from head to toe, while another culture may not have those same expectation from females. The other ethical theory that I understood is the difference between Egoism and Egotism. Egoism is the belief that motivation for people 's actions are carried out in self-interest, while Egotism means excessive conceit or self-absorption and selfishness. Ethical Relativism values, like mentioned earlier, are either an individual or cultural difference. In short, it means that other people and/or cultures should have the same ethical values as you do, or a "master set" of values per se. However, these values are not written in stone, therefore cannot be used in every single instance due to the fluctuation that each and every culture has. Some examples of beliefs that were listed in the textbook are beating of children, using animals for accessories, or helping those that are less fortunate, etc. (Chaffee pg. 435) Someone who believes in Ethical Relativism as …show more content…

Altruism is when one person 's actions risks or cost themselves something to promote someone else 's welfare. In the past, some researchers have conducted experiments with the intention to prove the Altruism theory, and what they found went against what most people believed to be true. These researchers found that most people 's first impulse was to cooperate and help others in need instead of wanting to be competitive. The researchers were even able to come to the conclusion that not only humans were capable of this, but non-human primates were able to display acts that further prove the experimental process in regard to

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Altruism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

    514 Words  | 3 Pages

    “If civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that people must learn to reject.” -Ayn Rand. To be compassionate and unselfish seems to be a noble and magnanimous pursuit. Altruism is admired, it is beautiful, and it is praised.

    Read More

  • Cultural Relativism Vs Female Circumcision

    102 Words  | 1 Pages

    Our moral beliefs indicate the kind of environment or culture we grew up in. Therefore, if we were born in Somalia, we would believe that it is morally right to go through female circumcision as a rite of passage. However, if we grew up in the western world, then we would not believe in female circumcision. We can therefore see the relativist 's argument of cultural relativism in this case, because if cultural relativism exists, then naturally, morality will also be relative. Additionally, to support his stance, the relativist will also argue that tolerance comes into play when it comes to cultural relativism.

    Read More

  • James Rachel's Argument Of Morality Is Not Relative

    1070 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this prompt the argument that Morality exists is irrelevant, contrary to our thoughts and beliefs. Everyone follows a set of moral rules. Ethical relativists disagree with this belief because, they believe that morals are distinctive from each individual culture. These relativists as described are mixing up moral and cultural distinctions, or are simply not willing to completely understanding the cultures they are standing up for. There are two different types of relativism Ethical, and Cultural, that rely upon the argument of cultural differences, which have flaws that make the argument unsound.

    Read More

  • The Southern Poverty Law Divine Command Theory

    1103 Words  | 5 Pages

    According to Ethical Relativism, there are no universal truths, which apply to all human beings at all times, and proposes that moral principles should be viewed as "local, conventional, subjective and self-justified" (Yardley, 2012). While ethical principles should conform to social, cultural norms and moral beliefs and practices are frequently products of cultural upbringing, the basis for Ethical Relativism is fundamentally unsound because it can be used to justify and rationalize practices and behaviors that are inherently immoral, such as racism, discrimination, hate crimes and oppression. Ethical African

    Read More

  • Cultural Differences Argument For Moral Relativism

    1178 Words  | 5 Pages

    ”(p.19) This shows that in the study of ethics, the study of moral relativism to be more specific, the idea of universal truth does not exist. That is to say what is perceived as “good” or “right” can vary form culture to culture, so there is no way to have one universal truth. Two major examples of cultural differences that are often cited in Support

    Read More

  • Moral Relativism In Criminal Justice

    709 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the discussion of moral objectivism and moral relativism, it is important to understand the difference, and the impact that a moral system has on the criminal justice community. The community exists to enforce the laws. Moral judgments are made with votes, and the decisions on how laws are crafted are made by elected officials. For this reason, it makes sense for the criminal justice community to separate themselves professionally from their own moral views. Moral Relativism is the view of morality, much like beauty, is relative to the person, culture, or organization.

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Cultural Relativism

    1020 Words  | 5 Pages

    Every society has its own unique cultures in which people will have different ideas of moral codes. The diversity of these cultures cannot be said to be correct or incorrect. Every society has independent standards of ethic within their society and these standards are culture-bound. Cultural Relativism has a perception in which rightness or wrongness of an action depends entirely within the bounds of the culture. This theory opposes the belief in the objectivity of moral truth.

    Read More

  • Chivalry In Today's Society

    1066 Words  | 5 Pages

    The word altruism may come to mind for some. When performing acts of kindness we

    Read More

  • David Hume's Ethical Altruism

    807 Words  | 4 Pages

    Altruism theory can basically be defined as an act that an individual performs, in order to benefit someone else. Altruism can also be known as Ethical Altruism. Furthermore, this specific theory speaks about the good deeds that an individual would undertake to help and benefit someone else, even if it requires the sacrifice of self-interest. The action that the individual would tackle would consider being morally right if the result would benefit the recipient than the person actually conducting the action (Mastin, 2008) . Majority of the time these actions that are performed by individuals are not only about doing good for other personnel but also to protect these persons them from being harm or getting injured in a certain situation

    Read More

  • Cultural Relativism In Social Media

    2321 Words  | 10 Pages

    In other words, “right” or “wrong” are culture specific, what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality that exist, no one has the right to judge another societies custom (Ess, 2009). Cultural Relativism is closely related to ethical relativism, which views truth as variable and not absolute. What makes up right and wrong is determined solely by individual or the society (Ess, 2009). Since the truth is not object, there can be no standards which applies to all cultures.

    Read More

  • Ethical Relativism Strengths And Weaknesses Essay

    2607 Words  | 11 Pages

    In general, on a popular argument for ethical relativism would be the untenability of objectivism. It is a persuasive justification for moral relativism because it is the best alternative following the failure of objectivism. The fact that moral objectivists themselves are uncertain, incongruent and unsettled on a standard moral system is the primary catalyst encouraging moral skepticism (IEP, Argument for Moral Relativism). Cultural relativism outlines that “an action is morally right, relative to a culture, just because it is right according to the moral code which is generally accepted in that culture.” Conversely, if “an action is morally wrong, relative to a culture, just because it is wrong according to the moral code which is generally accepted in that culture.”

    Read More

  • Examples Of Utilitarianism In The Movie The Island

    1524 Words  | 7 Pages

    In today’s world, many people tend to have a set of ethical principles which is one of the guidelines for them to follow on. The question is how he or she defines ethics? To answer, Ethics is best defined as knowing what is right or wrong in the action based on the moral principles. Moreover, it is also known as the branch of knowledge that deals with ethical issues. In relation, there are some ethical theories which deal with the ethical issues.

    Read More

  • Ethical Theories Essay

    886 Words  | 4 Pages

    These theories challenge what an individual think is right and wrong. Some of ethical theories are given in detail below. • Utilitarianism: Utilitarian ethical theories are based on person’s ability to foretell the reaction of a particular action. It is part of a normative ethics that is the study of ethical actions or ethics

    Read More

  • Examples Of Cultural Relativism

    827 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cultural relativism has a variety of definitions, but the main idea is that a universal code of ethics does not exist--it varies culture to culture. Rachel’s examines cultural relativism in “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” and argues that there are commonalities of ethics throughout every culture. Rachels sections off his argument to better explain what they believe. In this piece, they argue that cultural relativism is not a proper theory. They argue that it has many major flaws, but they acknowledge that parts of theory have some truth to it.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Ethical And Psychological Egoism

    1017 Words  | 5 Pages

    Maria Monserrat Larkin 28 April 2015 Exam 2 Ethical vs Psychological Egoism Egoism is the theory that one 's self is the motivation and goal of one 's own action. “The term egoism derives from ego, the Latin term for 'I ' in English. (Moseley)” There are two types of egoism: psychological and ethical.

    Read More

More about Ethical Relativism And Egoism Essay

Open Document