Jonna Mae A.

Lastimoso BSCpE – IV

1. Explain in detail Normative and Descriptive Ethics. Give Examples.

Ans.
Normative Ethics has moral standards and it describes the difference between
wrong and right. It has something to do about how a person should act. For example,
following the “Golden Rule”, we should act in a certain way because we want that
person to act in that way also, or should I say, “We should do this because we want this
kind of treatment”. So, for short, normative talks about what a person ought to do or
what a person should do, based on moral standards.
On the other hand, descriptive ethics has no moral standards and it does not
describe the difference between wrong and right. It has something to do about what the
population believes to be right and wrong. For example, if it was said that lying is right
because it is what they believe, and because the people in your town are lying. So, a
descriptive ethicist person will also lie without even thinking that lying is morally wrong.

2. Explain in detail and differentiate Cultural Relativism and Ethical Subjectivism.

Give Examples.
Ans.
Cultural Relativism means no one has the right to judge another society’s customs
and believes because the idea of “right and wrong” is based on their culture. It means
no one can judge if someone else is right or wrong because it is a matter of personal
opinion. For example, human sacrifice in Aztec is neither good nor bad because it is
what they believe and other races should not judge this practice.
On the other hand, ethical subjectivism claims that our opinion about morality is
based on our feelings. It also claims that there’s no right or wrong, only expressions of
our feelings. It means that each of us can’t judge someone’s opinion as being right and
wrong because it is just an opinion. For example, if one person believes that mercy
killing is acceptable based on his or her opinion and the other believes that it is not
acceptable based on his or her opinion, they can’t judge each other because both
statements are based on their opinion.
3. Read and write a reflection on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave relating it to the study
of Ethics and to your life. (20
pts)
Our cultures and beliefs depend on what our parents told us, and their
culture and beliefs also depend on what their parents told them, and the process
goes on... We do things based on what we think is the right thing to do because
this is what we see in our society ever since we are child until now. I can reflect it
to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”.
Just like those 3 persons in the cave, we only believe on what we see. Our
beliefs depend on our society, it depends on what we are told to do so.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is just like Aamir Khan’s movie entitled
“P.K.”. The movie shows how every person differ from each other, for example,
on religions. Until one day, an alien came to earth and discovers our diverse
beliefs and started asking each leader of the group. The leaders got angry
because of his questions. If we will reflect it to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, the
unchained person is the alien and the still-chained persons are the people on
earth, more specifically the religious leaders. The leaders try to defend their
beliefs, they want to force us to believe that their religion is the true one, other
group also claims that they are the one, and the process goes on…
We often have war because of our beliefs without us realizing that we are
just believing what our society told us to believe. Christians are Christians
because they grew on a Christian society and Islam are Islam because they grew
on an Islamic society.
We need to understand individual’s diversity and should not argue about
our cultures and beliefs, this is where we can apply cultural relativism in ethics. It
talks about having no right to judge another society’s customs and believes
because the idea of “right and wrong” is based on their culture.
We believe on different beliefs, but what if we are still chained in the cave
and still blinded from the truth?