PHIL 100W Lecture : phil 100 lec 22 + 23 notes
Document Summary
Despite its initial plausibility, ethical relativism must face several serious criticisms: consider the general form of the relativist"s argument. It might be reconstructed as follows: what is believed to be morally right varies from society to society, therefore, what is morally right varies from society to society. But the above argument is clearly invalid. Furthermore, unless one already accepts ethical relativism, the premise of this argument provides no reason for accepting its conclusion. In general, believing a statement to be true does not make it true. In general, a statement is not made true even by everyone"s believing it. Perhaps morality is the exception here, but even if it is, the burden of proof lies squarely on the shoulders of the ethical relativist to demonstrate to us that it is. If ethical relativism is true then no one is ever in a position to criticize the moral beliefs and practices of any society.