Some Moral Minima

Some Moral Minima

The view of ethical relativism regards values as determined by one's own ethical standards, often those provided by one's own culture and background. Rather than insisting that there are moral absolutes, moral claims must be interpreted in terms of how they reflect a person's viewpoint; moral claims are then said to be "right in a given culture" or "wrong for a given society."

What Is Relativism?

Have you ever ended an argument by simply agreeing to disagree? Relativism is the idea that one's beliefs and values are understood in terms of one's society, culture, or even one's own individual values.

You may disagree with someone and believe your view is superior, relative to you as an individual; more often, relativism is described in terms of the values of the community in which one lives. Perhaps my culture thinks soccer is the most entertaining sport to watch, and your culture thinks basketball is the most entertaining sport to watch.

My view is true, relative to my culture, and your view is true, relative to yours; there isn't some objective "fact" to point to that we would agree on, that would allow us to say one of us is correct (and thus that the other is incorrect). You probably have encountered examples of relativism in discussion with others about music, food, movies, and other issues that involve personal taste: these are said to be subjective and really can't be treated as the kinds of issues that one can treat objectively or as if there is a single, correct answer everyone should accept.

The relativist in ethics extends this kind of approach to ethical values. Perhaps one person lives in a culture where having a sexual relationship outside of marriage is regarded as one of the worst things a person can do; in this culture a person engaging in extramarital sex may be punished or even forced to leave. But another culture might have a considerably different view of what the first culture calls adultery, and sharing one's spouses in a general way is not only thought not to be wrong but is actively encouraged. Which culture is right? The relativist insists that this question can't really be answered, without taking into consideration the values of the society: adultery is wrong in one, right in the other, and there isn't a lot more to say beyond that.

Application of Relativism

Traditional

ethical views, as well as religious views, condemn a number of things as unethical, such as killing another person, rape, and theft. The relativist identifies a culture, or society, which we can call "society 1." So rather than saying "killing is wrong," the relativist claims "killing is wrong in society 1." But, presumably, there might