Download Moral Discourse

The objective of this 10 slide presentation is to:
 Identify “roadblocks” to moral discourse.
 Give your “roadblock” in class
 Evaluate the content of the moral discourse in a
discussion with other students
1. Let’s study this presentation in “Slide Show”.
2. At the end of the presentation there will be one discussion
question. Decide on one of the specific discussion stopper (1, 2, 3,
or 4) that you would like to interpret. Construct a discussion with
the discussion stopper in mind.
Please remember that we are posting views to exemplify roadblocks
– so some may not be a true view/opinion. Please respect each
other.
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Discussion stoppers can be articulated in
terms of the following four questions:
1. People disagree about morality; so how
can we reach agreement on moral issues?
2. Who am I/Who are we to judge others and
to impose my/our values on others?
3. Isn't morality simply a private matter?
4. Isn't morality simply a matter that different
cultures and groups should determine for
themselves?
Let’s practice creating some possible
roadblocks…
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People who hold this view fail to recognize:
(i) Experts in other fields of study, such as
science and math., also disagree on what the
correct answers to certain questions are.
(ii) There is common agreement about
answers to some moral questions.
(iii) People do not always distinguish between
"disagreements about factual matters" and
"disagreements on general principles" in
disputes involving morality.
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We need to distinguish between:
“Persons Making Judgments” and “Persons
Being Judgmental,“ and
“Judgments Involving Condemnations” vs.
“Judgments Involving Evaluations”
Also, we are sometimes required to make
judgments about others.
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Many people assume that morality is
essentially personal in nature and that
morality must therefore be simply a private
matter.
“Private morality" is essentially an oxymoron
or contradictory notion.
Morality is a public phenomenon (Gert).
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According to this view, a moral system is dependent on, or relative
to, a particular culture or group.
There are some very serious problems with this view, which is called
ethical relativism.
 To understand the problems inherent in this position, it is useful to
distinguish between two positions involving relativism: cultural
relativism and moral relativism.

At the base of cultural relativism is the following assumption:

(A) Different cultures have different beliefs about what constitutes
morally right and wrong behavior.

This assumption (A) is essentially descriptive in nature.

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Although Assumption A (the view that different groups have
different conceptions about what is morally right and morally wrong
behavior) is widely accepted, some social scientists have argued that
the reported differences between cultures have been greatly
exaggerated.
Other social scientists have suggested that all cultures may possess
certain universal core moral values.
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Even if Cultural Relativism (assumption A) is
true, does it logically imply the further
claim?
(B) What is morally right or wrong for
members of a culture or group can be
determined only by that culture or group.
Note that (B), unlike (A), is a normative
claim. Also note that to move from (A) to (B)
is to move from cultural relativism to moral
relativism.
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Moral relativism asserts that no universal standard of
morality is possible because different people have
different beliefs about what is right and wrong.
From this inference, relativists appear to further
suggest that, in matters of morality, anything goes.
But this principle of reasoning is problematic
because it is essentially incoherent and inconsistent.
Does it follow that individuals who reside outside a
particular culture can never make any judgments
about the behavior of those who live within that
culture?
Consider that in many tribes in West Africa a ritual of
female circumcision is still practiced.
Although this practice has been a tradition for many
generations, some females living in tribes that still
perform this ritual on teenage girls have objected.
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Decide on one of the specific discussion stopper (1, 2,
3, or 4) below. Construct your discussion to the next
slide with the discussion stopper in mind.
Stopper #1
Stopper #2
Stopper #3
Stopper #4
People disagree on
solutions to moral
issues.
Who am I to judge
others?
Ethics is imply a
private matter.
Morality is simply a
matter for individual
cultures to decide.
__________________
__________________
_________________ ___________________
a. Fails to recognize
that experts in many
areas disagree on key
issues in their fields.
a. Fails to distinguish
between the act of
judging and being a
judgmental person.
a. Fails to recognize that
morality is
essentially a public
system.
a. Fails to distinguish
between descriptive and
normative claims about
morality.
b. Fails to recognize
that there are many
moral issues on which
people agree.
b. Fails to distinguish
between judging as
condemning and
judging as evaluating.
b. Assumes that people
can never reach
common agreement on
some moral principles.
c. Fails to distinguish
between
disagreements about
principles and
disagreements about
facts.
c. Fails to recognize
that sometimes we are
required to make
judgments
b. Fails to note that
personally-based
morality can cause
major harm to
others.
c. Confuses moral
choices with
individual or
personal
preferences.
Moral Discussions
c. Assumes that a
system is moral because
a majority in a culture
decides it is moral.
9
Some kinds of records, like property ownership
records, marriage licenses and conviction
records have been open to the public ever since
such records began to be kept. Anyone could get
access to such records by going to a government
building and asking for the records. Some
governments are now posting such records on
the World Wide Web.
What are the advantages of making records
available on the Web as opposed to in a
government building? What are the
disadvantages? Be specific.
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