ETHICAL RELATIVISM

Descriptive relativism
• Moral codes differ from one society to the next:
• Some believe slavery is permissible, some don’t.
• Some enforce female circumcision, some don’t
• Some hold that everyone should be treated as equals, some don’t
• This is a factual claim.
Normative relativism
• Also known as metaethical relativism, cultural relativism
• There is no objective moral standard independent of what
societies endorse.
• There is no objective moral truth for all people at all times.
• So we can’t say that a society’s moral value or practice is
objectively right/wrong.
Normative relativism
• ‘Morally right’ = ‘right according to (some) society’s moral code’
• We can’t use the standards of one society (e.g. ours) to judge
another society’s morality.
Normative relativism
• Descriptive relativism doesn’t imply normative relativism.
• Disagreement is not enough to abandon truth
• Societies could make mistakes.
• Relativism is a kind of social non-cognitivism.
• But for individuals within society, there is a right answer –
relativism is not subjectivism.
Moral judgements as social conventions
• Societies are not trying to get at the ‘ethical truth’; instead ethical
values and practices are part of a way of living.
• Each makes moral claims that are ‘true for them’.
• Scientific truth vs. ethical truth:
• Science: discovers how the one, physical world is
• Ethics: what would explain ethical ‘mistakes’ or getting the correct answer?
• There are many social worlds with different conventions, not one
world which guides us towards agreement.
Relativism and human nature
• Different societies share many general principles and virtues
• E.g. prohibitions on killing, lying, theft
• Endorse care of the weak and courage
• Different ethical practices reflect different conditions, not different
principles
• Aristotle: we all aim to achieve the best life
• We all live in some society, and will need similar virtues for this
• Some societies endorse traits that don’t help people flourish
Relativism and human nature
• Reply: There is no one ‘best’ life for people – the idea is
culturally relative.
• Not all societies believe everyone is equal, so don’t agree that
everyone should be assisted to achieve the best life.
Ethical Relativism
•No universal standards.
•Cannot judge others.
•Personal judgment of actions.
•Society may affect personal
morals
•Personal morals are not used
to judge others.
• Ethical Relativism is the belief that there are no universal
standards for what is right and wrong; something that may
be considered “right” in one society could be considered
“wrong” in another.
• However, most ethicists (people who study ethics) do not
believe in this theory.

• There are a variety of reasons for why they do not fully agree
with ethical relativism.
⚫ Some argue that the principles of ethics remains the same
across the world, even if people express it in different
ways.

⚫ For instance, in a culture where people were killed when they

became old (so that they would enter the afterlife stronger),
they argue that the reason for doing this was a universal
reason: the need to take care of one’s parents.
• Another argument that the ethicists have is that while some
beliefs are based within a culture, some are universal.

• This is especially true for practices that are forbidden or

regulated by international laws (slavery, torture).
⚫ In addition, ethical relativism has come under fire because it
implies that people must do whatever their society tells them to
do.

⚫ This is obviously not true in many cases, and if people did not
challenge their societies’ beliefs, many things would have never
changed.
• Even if we reject a lot of what ethical relativism says, it is still
important because it reminds us that different societies and
different cultures have different beliefs on issues of what is
wrong and right.
Example: Parenting
• Just because we are not sure what to do does not mean we don’t have a
sense of right and wrong. You can see this particularly well in issues
around parenting. Parents often know the values they want their
children to have but how to teach these values is not always clear.
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