PHILOS 2YY3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Relativism, The Foundations, Negative Number
20 Dec 2016
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Notions of good/bad, right/wrong cease to have interpersonal evaluative meaning. We might not approve of the views of ted bundy, but that is just a matter of taste. Moral objectivism: some moral principles are universally valid. Moral relativism: moral principles are relative to culture or individual choice. Problem: little or no interpersonal criticism logically possible, but morality is (cid:498)morality is in the eye of the beholder(cid:499) about interpersonal interaction. Seems to imply tolerance but that would make tolerance a universal moral principle: 2. No moral reason to obey law my group doesn(cid:495)t recognize as valid: 4. Moral relativism argument: diversity thesis: moral rightness/wrongness varies from society to society, dependency thesis: rightness/wrongness of behavior depends on society to which you belong, conclusion: there are no absolute or objective moral standards. Objectivist responses to diversity thesis: similarities between moral codes, fact of cultural relativism doesn(cid:495)t establish its truth.
