Cultural+and+Personal+Relatisim

Group 3 Dr. Steve Bein
 * Cultural and Personal Relativism **

PHIL 1125: ETHICS 1/25/2012

**Cultural and Personal Relativism**
==== Cultural Relativism is the theory that every society has its own set of morals **and that these morals are by definition correct**. One claim made by cultural relativists is that "there are no moral truths that hold for all people at all times" (Rachels & Rachels,//Elements of Moral Philosophy//, page 16). //Following this logic stealing, lying, and murder could be considered moral as long as a certain country believed it to be.// ==== ====// Some examples of flaws to the theory of Cultural Relativism include the idea that the society believes that something is morally right, they may actually be wrong. For example, some societies may believe that the earth is flat, while other societies believe that it is round. Even though one society may truly believe that the world is flat, they are wrong (Rachels & Rachels, Elements of Moral Philosophy, page 18).Another example of how Cultural Relativism is wrong is during war, anything a country does in a conflict, including genocide, would be morally justified**.** //**Everything I've italicized here is unnecessary.** ==== ==== Personal Relativism is a theory stating that people cannot judge the morality of someone else. **Why not?** Thus, no one person could ever say to another that an action is right or wrong, because each individual would live by their own moral code. ==== ==== Personal relativism is worse than cultural relativism, for nobody could ever feel safe. Each person would have their our own opinion and that opinion cannot be questioned, anyone could do whatever they pleased and would be morally justified. **There's more to be said here, and you don't have room to say it because half of this paper explains details of CR that aren't relevant to the assignment. Read your assignment carefully and answer //everything// it asks you for and //only// what it asks you for. (Explaining details is excellent, but only when the details are pertinent.)** ====


 * 8/10**