PHL275H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Moral Objectivism, Subjectivism, Relativism
Document Summary
The truth of all moral claims is determined by one"s culture. The truth of all moral claims is determined by one"s personal beliefs/opinions. It can"t make sense of moral progress/regress. (problems with) three motivations for moral skepticism: moral objectivism doesn"t imply dogmatism; On the contrary, dogmatism is very plausibly objectively bad; in fact, it"s moral skepticism that has a problem with dogmatism: moral objectivism doesn"t imply intolerance; On the contrary, tolerance is very plausibly objectively good; in fact, moral skepticism has no grounds to prescribe tolerance: equal rights to an opinion on a topic doesn"t imply equal correctness of opinions; In fact, the argument smuggles in moral objectivism. Moral disagreement: yet another argument/motivation for moral skepticism. The end game: widespread moral disagreement shows that moral objectivism is false. Widespread variation across cultures and time periods about what"s right and wrong. Cannibalism, sadistic killing, selective infanticide, child labour and sex slavery, etc.
