Relativism

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• Relativism

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Im skeptical about cultural relativism
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Concepts

• Reducio ad absurdem argument
• False dichotomy
• Ethical Universalism
• Ethical Relativism
• Reflective Equilibrium
• Theme Its alright to be wrong!

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SubjectivismTruth is relative to individuals

• The view thatwhatever anyone believes is true.
• Plato Protagorasadmittingthat everybodys
  opinion is true, must acknowledge the truth of
  his opponents belief about his own belief, where
  they think he is wrong.

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They cant both be right
San Diego isnorth of LosAngeles.
Yourewrong!
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Argument against subjectivism

1. Suppose subjectivism were true If a person
   believes that P, then P assume subjectivism
   for reductio
2. x believes that P and y believes that x is wrong
   in believing that P, i.e. y believes that not-P
   people disagree
3. P and not-P by 1 and 2
4. Subjectivism is false reductio given that
   people disagree, subjectivism implies a
   contradiction

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Is ethics a game without rules?
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Ethical Relativism

• There are no true universal moral judgments.
• Moral judgments
• __ is wrong
• __ is right
• __ is obligatory
• __ is good
• __ is bad
• Etc.

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False Dichotomy

• The fallacy of false dichotomy is committed when
  the arguer claims that his conclusion is one of
  only two options, when in fact there are other
  possibilities.
• The arguer then goes on to show that the 'only
  other option' is clearly outrageous, and so his
  preferred conclusion must be embraced.

If the Ten Commandmentsarent absolutely true
withno exceptions thenanything goes!
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Thou shalt not lie.
I wouldnt becaught dead in that rig.
Cuteoutfit!

• What about white lies?

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Thou shalt not steal.

• What about Jean Valjean stealing that loaf of
  bread when he was starving?

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Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
And it came to pass, that he went through the
corn fields on the sabbath day and his disciples
began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do
they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
And he said unto themMark 223 -27
The Sabbath was made for man--not man for the
Sabbath.
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Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
NO!
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Ethical Relativism vs. Ethical Universalism

• Ethical relativists hold that there is no kind of
  action that is always, everywhere and for
  everyone right or wrong.
• Ethical universalists hold that there is some (at
  least one) kind of action that is always,
  everywhere and for everyone right or wrong.
• This kind can be highly abstract!
• Ethical universalists do not claim that every
  kind of action is either always right or always
  wrong!

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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
You break your promise to give a madman a gun on
Tuesday.

• Promise-breaking
• Breaking a promise when keeping itwould have
  very bad consequences
• Doing something on a Tuesday
• Doing an action that brings about the
  greatestgood for the greatest number
• Doing an action with the intention of preventing
  someone else from being harmed

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What features of an action are morally relevant?

• We ask what features of an action are morally
  relevant?
• Surely not, e.g. the day on which it was done
• We ask what are the right-making or wrong-making
  features of actions?
• Every action belongs to many kinds
• Which kinds are morally relevant?

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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
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Kinds of actionsAn action can belong to many
different kinds!
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Moral Principles

• An individual action is right or wrong in virtue
  of some general principle concerning kinds of
  actions
• An action is ltright, wronggt if it is an action of
  kind K
• But what is K???
• A promise breaking? An act done with good
  intentions? An act that produces the greatest
  good for the greatest number? An act that does no
  harm?
• An ethical relativist says that there is no way
  of filling in that Kno universal moral
  principles.

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Ethical Universalism

• To be a ethical universalist you only have to
  agree that there is some kind of action thats
  always right or always wrong.
• The relevant kind may be something very general,
  for example, doing something that brings about
  the greatest good for the greatest number.

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Is ethics a game without rules?

• Reflective equilibrium theory construction in
  ethics is comparable to theory construction in
  science
• We get dataour moral intuitions about real and
  imaginary cases
• We generalize
• We test our generalizations against further data
• We keep going back and forth until we achieve a
  reflective equilibrium

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A sample theory to test
The Wiccan Rede Harm none
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The Wiccan Rede prohibits eating obliging
strangers
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A case of easy rescue
What is harm? Failing to help in some cases
when we dont actually do harm can be wrong.
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Setting a bad example
Even when an action doesnt directly harm anyone
it maystill make others worse off by setting a
bad example,establishing a bad precedent or
undermining institutionsthat are in the public
interest.
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Contributing to harmful practices
Some kinds of actions that are harmless
individually are harmful when lots of people do
them
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Another sample theory Utilitarianism

• PU an act is right iff it maximizes utility
• Utility is understood as desire-satisfaction,
  pleasure or happiness
• Consider moral intuitions that support the theory
• Consider those that are go against the theory
  (example the promise to the dead man problem)
• What should we do if intuitions go against the
  theory
• reject the intuitions and keep the theory?
• reject the theory in favor on one that explains
  our intuitions?
• modify the theory to accommodate our intuitions?

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The Promise to the Dead Man Case
Promise that when Im dead youll give me decent
burial
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Maximizing utility
The greatest goodfor the greatest number!
A good Utilitarian cuts up the body and uses it
as fish bait.
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The Moral of this Story

• Even if end we agree to disagree, we can reason
  about moral issues
• Ethics is not a game without rules
• It is not merely subjective
• It is not just a matter of personal feelings
• It is not something we have to take on faith

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Cultural Relativism means different things

• T 1. Peoples beliefs, attitudes, tastes, etc.
  are significantly affected by their culture--and
  people in different cultures have very different
  beliefs, attitudes, tastes, etc.
• T 2. Methodological cultural relativism cultures
  should be studied on their own terms.
• F 3. Actions are right or wrong to the extent and
  only to the extent that they conform or dont
  conform to cultural norms.

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Cultural Relativism reflections

• Actions that are wrong may be excusable and
  people that do them may not be blameworthy.
• Even if an action is wrong, it doesnt follow
  that it would be right to stop people from doing
  it.
• Practices that produce good results in one
  culture may not produce good results in another,
  e.g. polygamy.

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Countries where polygamy is legal
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Would legalizing polygamy maximize utility in the
US?
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Asking these questions assumes a universal
standard!

• An ethical universalist may consistently hold
  that polygamy is ok in one context but not ok in
  another
• Because he may hold that what makes an action
  right is something that holds across all cultures
  . . .
• But that whereas a given KIND of action has that
  right-making property on one context it doesnt
  have that property in another.

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Human Rights the hard question
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Different Questions
Is it wrong?
Can you blame them?
Should you stop them?
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Quine speaks

• Truth, says the cultural relativist, is
  culture-bound. But if it were, then he, within
  his own culture, ought to see his own
  culture-bound truth as absolute. He cannot
  proclaim cultural relativism without rising above
  it, and he cannot riseabove it without giving it
  up.

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Charles Napier on Sati

• "Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom
  prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also
  a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them,
  and confiscate all their property. My carpenters
  shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang
  all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us
  all act according to national customs."

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Problems with Cultural Relativism

• Who is my neighbor? (The problem of overlapping
  cultures)
• Some practices are just plain wrong
• The paradox of tolerance

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The Paradox of Tolerance

• The ethical relativist cannot hold that everyone
  everywhere should be tolerant without
  contradicting himself!
• If the ethical relativist holds that actions are
  right if they conform to cultural norms then he
  must hold that people in intolerant societies
  ought to be intolerant!

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When in Romedo as the Romans do
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The Moral of the Story

• Relativism isnt as good as its cracked up to be
  a little learning is a dangerous thing
• Some forms of relativism are logically
  problematic
• We can accommodate our intuitions and commitments
  (about tolerance, about not being dogmatic, etc.)
  without buying into any form of relativism.

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Dont wish for Ethical Relativism
The End
you might just get it