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Philosophy 338 | Summer 2009 Brandon Morgan-Olsen | 7.1 William Talbott, Which Rights Should Be Universal? (chps. 3-4) Chapter 3 – “Cultural Relativism About Human Rights” Different positions about the normative foundations/justified applications of human rights: Universalism about human rights (Talbott’s position) Cultural Relativism (either “extreme moral relativism” or “cultural relativism about internal norms”) Talbott thinks that extreme moral relativism is “deeply incoherent” and that cultural relativism about internal norms is “intellectually unstable.” The Cultural Imperialism Argument for extreme moral relativism Talbott considers extreme moral relativism “wishy-washy” Conquistador example Three Defenses of Cultural Relativism about Internal Norms [p. 45] (1) The Infallibility Thesis (2) The Incommensurability Thesis (3) The Claim of Distorting Bias Chapter 4 – “An Epistemically Modest Universal Moral Standpoint” Talbott’s aim here is not necessarily to speak to the moral skeptic. Moral Imperialism as a combination of infallibilism and moral paternalism; Talbott thinks that we can avoid Imperialism while advocating Universalism as long as we are “epistemically modest” while forwarding the importance of a universal moral standpoint. Proof Paradigm / Top-down Reasoning / Bottom-up Reasoning / Equilibrium Model of Moral Reasoning The Bartolomé de Las Casas / Hypothetical BLC example The role of empathic understanding Biases, self-serving beliefs, and socially enforced self-serving beliefs [p. 68] Are all moral beliefs self-serving? Avoidance of moral imperialism by appeal to symmetry [p. 76] Is it possible to criticize the external norms of another culture? What about the internal norms of another culture? Is it possible to praise the external/internal norms of another culture?