There are no universally valid
moral principles and so there is no
one true morality
At the time of Homer (8th
century BCE) being good
meant you were heroic
and the type of person you
were was the most
important thing. this
became developed in the
ethical theories of
socrates, Plato and
Aristotle.
By 6th Century BCE
there was no longer
any moral certainty.
Alasdair MacIntyre said
it's due to the discovery
of other civilaisations
with different ideas on
what it meant to be
good.
Sophists (wise men)
appeared and argued
that all morality was
relative - right and
wrong varied from
person to person.
SOCRATES all humans
share a common, innate
understanding of what is
morally good. PLATO there
are objective and universal
moral truths (complete
opposite of sophists).
ARISTOTLE rejected Plato's
idea of the Forms. They all
oppose complete relativism
from different angles.
CULTURAL AND NORMATIVE RELATIVISM
CULTURAL RELATIVISM -
Different societies have
different moral codes, no
objective standard can judge
one culture better than
another, our own moral code
is just one among many,
there are no universal truths,
moral codes are just right for
the right society to which
they apply and we cannot
judge the conduct of other
societies, we need to be
tolerant.
NORMATIVE RELATIVISM
- where actions are assessed
according to ethical theories,
it's about what is actually
right and good and not
simply about culturaldiversity
and dependency. Normative
relativists reject the principle
of objectivity or absolutism
and see morality as
something which evoles and
changes. Includes
utilitarianism and situation
ethics.
SITUATION ETHICS
JOSEPH FLETCHER (1905-1991)
developed it in the 1960s in reaction
to Christian legalism and
antinomianism. Argues that each
individual situation is different and
absolute rules are too demanding
and retrictive. Christians should base
theor actions on one single rule -
agape. The ethical theory depends
on 4 working principles and 6
fundamental principles.
4 WORKING PRINCIPLES:
*Pragmatism *Relativism
*Positivism *Personalism
6 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES:
*Love (agape) is the only absolute.
*Love is self giving love. *Justice will
follow from love. *Love has no
favourites. *Love must be the final
end, not a means to an end. *The
loving thing to do will depend on the
situation.
STRENGTHS: *It's easy
to understand and can be
continually updated. *It's
flexible and take many
situations into account.
*Focuses on humans and
concern for others -
agape. *Allows people to
take responsibility for
their own decisions and
decide what is right and
wrong.
WEAKNESSES: *Was condemned
in 1952 by Pope Pius XII who said it
was wrong to make decisions based
on individual circumstances if these
went against the Church and the
Bible. *It is not possible to
determine the consequences of
actions.
REASONS AND WEAKNESSES OF RELATIVISM
REASONS: *Decline of religious authority. *Greater
understanding of other cultures. *Unacceptable effects
of interfering with other cultures. *Influence of
metaethical analysis. *Development of competing
theories.
WEAKNESSES: *Implies that there can be
no real evaluation or criticism of practices
such as witch burning. *Doesn't allow
societies to progress. *Gives little reason for
behaving morally. *Some statements are
true absolutely - just because cultures vary,
doesn't mean there's no objective 'good'.
ETHICAL ABSOLUTISM
Command that is true for all the time in all situations.
Both ethical relativists and absolutists would say it's not
alright to kill someone for no reason. If we assume that
it was a doctor killing one patient to save another they
would still say it's not acceptable. However if we
consider killing one person to save many lives,
relativists would say it's alright but absolutists would
disagree. For a theist, the absolute laws come from
God. For an atheist or agnostic, it's a priori in nature.
Never taught by parents not to sleep with family
members- just know not to.
Moral absolutism is when there is only one correct
answer to every moral problem. Today many
Chrisitans believe there is a hierachy of absolutes -
"Graded Absolutes"
NORMATIVE ABSOLUTISM - Natural law and Kantian Ethics.
STRENGTHS: *Gives a
fixed ethical code. *Cultures
can judge wrong actions of
others and then make a
judgement. *Can support
universal laws such as
human rights. *May often
be seen as an impossible
ideal.
WEAKNESSES: *Doesn't take the circumstances of
each situtaion into account. *Seems intolerant of
cultural diversity. *All sources of morality are open to
human interpretation.