Ethical Relativism Strengths And Weaknesses Essay

For example, killing is bad, love is good, worship is honorable, etc. Moral relativism, on the other hand, takes into consideration the person(s) who define those standards; and their relative position in time. Moral relativism asserts that what we define to be “good” or “bad” is not absolute but rather (one might say) subjective. ================================================== Is one of these moral perspectives more correct than another? World history shows endless room for debate.

Furthermore, they are motivated “in a dutiful, serious way” to act in accordance with things they acknowledge as “noog” and vice versa with what they acknowledge as “nad” (258). Dreier concludes that we would generally decide that the culture’s moral language is the second class of terms, and this conclusion demonstrates the conceptual ties of function with moral language (258). He accepts that we may decide the culture is wrong about their use of terms, but it is difficult to deny the importance of “extension of our moral judgments” (258). I find that this plausible example limits the damage an amoralist counterargument could cause because it makes

that values differ with cultures.” Due to the effect of changing moral values, one cannot deny the value that another believes to be true. As stated before, the culture that allows people to commit child scarification believes it to be a morally good thing since it serves as a form of faith to God. Although the practice may sound morally wrong for another culture, denying one’s culture only perceives that the other culture is morally right. Also if one does not abide by their value, then one will feel as if they feel they are committing a wrong act. Values are changing, not only through cultures, but also in time.

According to Mill, “acts should be classified as morally right or wrong only if the consequences are of such significance that a person would wish to see the agent compelled, not merely persuaded, and exhorted, to act in a preferred matter. A moralist can sum up the units of pleasure and the units of pain for everyone likely to be affected, immediately and in the future, and could take the balance as a measure of the overall good or evil tendency of an action” (West). The moral value of an action can be based on what is called hedonism. This says the only thing can be good is pleasure or happiness. Utilitarianism shows how moral questions can have objectively true answers.

Mackie’s Arguments Against Ethical Objectivism According to the book The Fundamentals of Ethics, it is stated that ethical objectivism “is the view that moral standards are objectively correct and that some moral claims are objectively true” (Shafer-Landau, p. 294). It is the belief that each individual or person has their own set of moral principles. J.L Mackie explains two arguments against ethical objectivism, which include the argument from relativity and the argument from queerness. In addition he explains and defends his error theory. He states his claim that they are no objective values and that ethical statements are false.

Each agrees that the “continent” person is one to strive for, this means an example of someone who can restrain them self from doing the wrong and irrational things. Through the eyes of Kant, and Aristotle, a continent person is the next best to the, “morally ideal” one can achieve. On top of that each philosopher, agrees that one’s reasoning must be morally right in order to be a rational

This scenario is a moral obligation. In someone else 's culture cannibalism is an accepted action to preform and is also accepted not to perform making it morally optional. The criteria for the right and the good in a moral theory is one or more moral

Yet, one must be causa sui to achieve true moral responsibility. Hence, nothing is able to truly be morally responsible. Strawson 's whole purpose of writing the article is to change anyone 's mind who says that we should be responsible for the way we are and what we do as a result of the way we are. He believes we are lacking freedom and control of doing so. He argues that if we do something for a reason, that is how we are, so we must be responsible.

Hume takes the belief of what would be considered moral sense theorists where we gain awareness of moral evil and good by experiencing the uneasiness of disapproval and the pleasure of approval when we think of a character trait or action from an unbiased point of view. Hume goes against what would be considered a rationalists point of view in regard to that although reason is the foundation to discover anything that is a concrete situation, or general social impact, reason alone is insufficient in its ability to yield a judgment that would be considered

There are two types of utilitarianism: Act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism is a belief in which, an individual’s actions are moral as long as the actions produce the greatest outcome possible. Rule utilitarianism is a belief in which, an action is morally right, as long as it justified in accordance to a particular law. Utilitarianism is less complicated to understand (compared to other moral theories) because it consists of “doing whatever produces the best consequences” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Virtue Ethics). Mill viewed the greatest happiness principle as the cornerstone of morals, he