Download William Talbott, Which Rights Should Be Universal

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?