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Revision whizz through relativism
• A recap from the start:
– Teleological and Deontological
– Absolutism
• Plato and the ‘forms’
– Relativism
• Protagorus
• Aristotle – more so than Plato
• Cultural – Sumner, Mackie
Teleological and Deontological
•Teleological
•‘telos’ – Greek for ‘end’
•The consequence is all important
•Deontological
‘deon’ Greek for duty
•Concerned with the act itself – things are either
right or wrong
•Advantages and Disadvantages?
Absolutism
• Some things are right / wrong irrespective of
situation, results, time or place
• Something is wrong because it breaks a moral
rule
• Moral rules can be derived a priori using
reason alone, as in Kantian ethics, or a
posteriori, as in natural law, by observing the
ends rational people pursue (primary
precepts)
Plato
• Moral absolutes exist in a real way – beyond
our perceptions
• The world of the ‘Forms’ – things such as
colours, beauty, and virtues exist in an
objective way
• Not “what is good for you?”, but “what is
goodness itself?”
• The simile of the cave
Kant and Aquinas
• Kant believed in the objective moral law
existing a bit like Plato’s forms, as ideas in the
metaphysical realm, discovered a priori.
• Aquinas believed that the objective moral law
exists in the mind of God, the eternal law, and
that the natural law is the sharing by rational
creatures in this eternal law.
• This law is universal, but not as absolute as is
sometimes suggested, as secondary principles
can change.
Relativism in the Ancient World
• Fact? – people don’t always agree on rights
and wrongs – the example of King Darius
• Protagorus – truth depends on our
perspectives
• Aristotle (more relativist than Plato) – Forms
not absolute – virtue is a midway position
between extremes (so Aquinas, who follows
Aristotle, is more relativist than Kant).
Modern Relativism
• Cultural Relativism – Sumner
• Observed cultural differences
• Morality is simply ‘socially approved habits’
• Mackie – no objective values
• Strengths?
– Tolerant
– Explains changes through history on issues
Evaluation
• Relativism
– Strengths
• Accommodates differences
• Tolerant
• Flexible
– Weaknesses
• Not all views are equal
• Can’t condemn eg genocide
• Is itself an absolute “there is no objective truth”
(Mackie…..but how does he know?)
Absolutism
• Strengths
– Fixed ethical code
– A set of morals for groups of countries to follow
– Some rights may be universal (life, liberty and
pursuit of happiness?)
• Weaknesses
– Cannot take circumstances into account
– Intolerant of culture
– Fails to recognise that perception may be
culturally conditioned