Ethical Relativism

Ethical RelativismEthical RelativismIt’s All Relative

Journal #18Journal #18

Have you ever been in a situation where you disagreed with somebody else (friend, parent, teacher) about what was wrong or right?

Who was “right” in that situation? You or the other person?

Video

Why does our opinion change when it’s a well-dressed young woman and a homeless person?

Does the ethics of the situation change, regardless of who it is?

Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

Journal #18

What Would You Do? Discussion

Intro to Ethical Relativism

Skit Creation!!

Exit Questions

Ethical RelativismEthical Relativism

Ethical Relativism is one of the three major ethical systems that we will cover in this unit.

Ethical Relativism is the belief that there are no universal standards for what is right and wrong; something that may be considered “right” in one society could be considered “wrong” in another.

Quote from Quote from Patterns of Patterns of CultureCulture

We might suppose that in the matter of taking life all peoples would agree on condemnation.

On the contrary, in the matter of homicide, it may be held that one kills by custom his two children, or that a husband has a right of life and death over his wife or that it is the duty of the child to kill his parents before they are old.

Among some peoples, a person suffers torment at having caused an accidental death, among others, it is a matter of no consequence.

(Quoted from Patterns of Culture)

Objections to Ethical RelativismObjections to Ethical Relativism

However, most ethicists (people who study ethics) do not believe in this theory.

There are a variety of reasons for why they do not fully agree with ethical relativism.

Objections ContinuedObjections Continued

Some argue that the principles of ethics remains the same across the world, even if people express it in different ways.

For instance, in a culture where people were killed when they became old (so that they would enter the afterlife stronger), they argue that the reason for doing this was a universal reason: the need to take care of one’s parents.

Cont.Cont.

Another argument that the ethicists have is that while some beliefs are based within a culture, some are universal.

This is especially true for practices that are forbidden or regulated by international laws (slavery, torture).

In addition, ethical relativism has come under fire because it implies that people must do whatever their society tells them to do.

This is obviously not true in many cases, and if people did not challenge their societies’ beliefs, many things would have never changed.

So Why is Ethical Relativism So Why is Ethical Relativism Important?Important?

Even if we reject a lot of what ethical relativism says, it is still important because it reminds us that different societies and different cultures have different beliefs on issues of what is wrong and right.

GUIDED PRACTICEGUIDED PRACTICE

We have studied a number of ethical dilemmas, even seeing real-life clips of how people respond to these dilemmas.

In your groups, create an ethical dilemma skit that you think would be difficult to answer, especially from the viewpoint of ethical relativism (A situation where different people/cultures might have different responses.)

Examples of the Dilemmas we’ve seen include:

The blind being cheatedMan attacked because of his ethnicityPeople fainting in the streetShould we change how we grade?

GROUP EXPECTATIONSGROUP EXPECTATIONS

As we only have a limited amount of time with which to work:

Groups must be on-task!All conversations should be directly related to

your ethical dilemma skit.Desks of group members need to be directly

facing each other, and conversation directed within your group.

Our room can only be at a conversation-level of noise.

As a group, once everybody has created a scenario, we will share with the class. The other groups will be responsible for seeing how they would respond.

Your skit does not need to be elaborate: there is a time limit of four minutes.

Good Luck!

Exit QuestionsExit Questions

What is Ethical Relativism? Who are ethicists?

What are the main objections that ethicists have toward this theory? List the three main ones in detail.

With all of these objections, why is ethical relativism still important?