What the Hell is Moral Relativism?

[a_unique_person]

I read this term all the time, but I don't understand what it is supposed to mean. It doesn't appear to be a philosophical construct, but a political one. From what I can guess, it means that anything I do to hurt you is OK, as long as it doesn't get in the newspapers, but anything you do to me is immoral, because it does get in the newspapers.

[Suddenly]

It depends.

[Jude]

It's okay if I steal this car. Besides, it's not like I'm committing murder!

[AmateurScientist]

I think it's used most often by Christians denouncing what they see as secular humanists' attempts to celebrate diversity. In particular, my understanding is that they mean to criticize the notion that all viewpoints are equally valid, that all behaviors must be viewed in context in order to judge their morality, and that if it feels right then it must be right.

Inherent in the criticism of "moral relativism" is the contrasting notion of moral absolutes. Indeed, Christian fundamentalists and others often use the term "absolute" to refer to the Word of God. Thus, God's laws are absolutes. His proscriptions against certain behaviors are not to be examined in context. They mean what they say. Murder is always wrong. Adultery is always wrong.

Thus, an anthropologist examining a culture in which polygamy is commonly accepted as a cultural norm, for instance, is obliged to condemn the people for violating God's law. If the anthropologist doesn't condemn their behavior and attempts to rationalize it, he is engaging in moral relativism.

Here's a link which may explain better:


Moral Relativism (http://www.moral-relativism.com/)

AS

[a_unique_person]

From the link.



Evolution and moral relativism go hand-in-hand, for evolution teaches that life is accidental, without meaning or purpose. Therefore, anything you do is OK, because it ultimately doesn't matter. If you believe we are created, however, moral relativism cannot work. Creation implies a Creator.

[Bikewer]

See also "Situational ethics."

I always thought the whole Moral Absolute thing was a little odd.

There's scarcely a Christian sect that hasn't spent considerable time and effort tweaking the "10 Commandments".

[AmateurScientist]

If I didn't make this clear, the term "moral relativism" is pejorative. It was created by Christian apologists as a criticism of what they see as secular values. They believe morals cannot exist without God. Therefore, to them, persons who attempt to define morality outside of a Biblical construct are engaged in moral relativism.

When the site I linked to calls moral relativism a philosophy, it is not embracing it. The site is denouncing it. Click on "About Us" to get an idea of the sites' sponsors' agenda.

AS

[a_unique_person]

AS, I wasn't criticising you, I was just surprised that they would link evolution/creationism and moral relativism.

[Mycroft]

Moral relativism is the idea that all systems of morality are equal, that no one system of ethic is better than another.

When used as a criticism, it most often means that the moral relativist has no system of ethic, since whatever is being criticized is acceptable in some culture.

[Cain]

I find that people who say moral relativism are referring to cultural relativism. Sometimes, however, they may be talking about ethical subjectivism (chapters 2 and 3 of James Rachels' excellent introduction to ethics _The Elements of Moral Philosophy_ provide the best summary I know).

These are philosophical terms often used by religious conservatives to slime the left, especially the academic left (at least in the United States).

Moral relativism has mutated from a neutral descriptive term into a pejorative. (For another example, see "liberal").

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Cain

Moral relativism has mutated from a neutral descriptive term into a pejorative. (For another example, see "liberal").

Exactly what I thought was happening.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
AS, I wasn't criticising you, I was just surprised that they would link evolution/creationism and moral relativism.

In the creationist camp they like to think that animals are completely without moral or ethical systems. An acceptance of evolution means humans are "just animals" and therefore inherently morally reletivistic.