Philosophy

This week I have a twofold question:

1) Is there any value you think should be understood by everyone as an objective right or wrong, that is, something not just right and wrong as a matter of individual or cultural opinion? We all know people do, in fact, disagree about morality a great deal and perhaps always will.

So I am not asking whether you think there is, in fact, a value everyone will agree with. That is, I am not asking you for a descriptive judgment that just reports the facts. Rather, I am asking you to offer a prescriptive judgment: what do you think should be objectively right or wrong?

If you think you have a candidate, tell us what it is. If you don’t think there are any objective values, explain why. The second question is: 2) Do you think moral relativism is true?

In providing an answer, please defend your claim with reference to some of the arguments for and/or against moral relativism in the reading. This is a tough subject and you don’t have to have any certainty or even a high degree of confidence in your response.

Just do your best to think the ideas through a bit and see where you stand. If you are indeed tentative in your beliefs, feel free to make that clear. Here are some study questions related to the readings (see links below) for week one. Again, I will also include a couple of important points not mentioned or emphasized enough in the readings.

What are some of the factors that gave rise to moral relativism? What is descriptive relativism? What is moral relativism? What is the difference between descriptive and moral relativism? What is normative relativism? What is cultural relativism?

What is moral subjectivism? Know that moral relativism is typically understood as either cultural relativism or, more rarely, moral subjectivism or individual relativism.

What are the reasons for and against moral relativism discussed in the reading?https://iep.utm.edu/moral-re/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sETnOF5_ghg https://existentialcomics.com/comic/91