Karen Jean Solidor

Philo1a
April 7, 2021

Paperwork #3: Determinism Vs. Relativism

Activity 1.7 Write a reaction paper about the statement of the famous Attorney
Clarence Darrow to the prisoners of the Cook County Jail:

Relativism: Life is a Product of Our Choices

Attorney Clarence Darrow’s statement is an epitome of his view on relativism.

The prisoner is convicted of a crime by which it caused him prison time, or his actions
lead to a punishment. Yet, a criminal is human, meaning his choices where guided by
his version of morality and that whatever he did was what he deemed necessary at that
time, and that he was the only one who can justify his actions. Attorney further infers
that there is no such thing as a crime nor accident.
I believe that society, or the people that believed in determinism, set out these
laws and the uniform version of morality or norms so that people would not abuse free
will in the version that for them would cause more harm than good. Actions are then
measured with consequences, either rewards or punishment, in this case, the
deterministic view created the concept “Crime” so that they can punish what majority
thinks as a bad action.
However, with relativism each of us view the concept of bad and good differently,
there is no such thing as a crime but merely, a consequence of an action that happened
if we use free will. Just like the good things we do there are positive consequences that
follows. Whatever choice that we make, it was affected by factors and guided by the
circumstances that made us do it. So, in turn, there are no accidents, rather, the
consequence of the series of choices that lead us to the event or happening. The
criminal is human who did an action by whom he sees fit based on the circumstances
and factor that lead him to do it.
In determinism, we see criminal, and in relativism, we see human. We could
follow the deterministic society who governs our free will and view our lives as being
pre-determined, we give into fear because of the material punishments and strive for
greatness to achieve material happiness, since we were told: “that’s how we should live
our lives.” Yet if we choose to view it relatively, we live on our own terms, we strive for
meaning and that our choices were guided by nothing more than own version of the
truth. Yes, we must follow the law and we still need to earn a living, but the difference is,
in our minds, we are free. In relativism, there are no accidents rather, we define life as a
product of our individual choices.