Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ETHICS
Section A. Are Moral Values
Objective?
• 1. Morality Grounded in Unchanging
Spiritual Forms: Plato
• 2. Moral Relativism: Sextus, Montaigne,
and Mackie
• 3. The Case Against Moral Relativism:
James Rachels
Optimist (objectivist) view of
morality.
• Objective: moral values are based on some
spiritual component of the universe, which
is independent of human activity.
• Absolute/eternal: they don’t change.
• Universal: apply to all people.
Pessimist (skeptical/relativist)
view of morality.
• Not objective: moral values are human
inventions, not grounded in a spiritual
realm.
• Not absolute/eternal: moral values change
from culture to culture.
• Not universal: people are bound by their
own values, not a universal set of values.
Two kinds of moral relativism
• Individual: moral truths are relative to
(created by) each individual.
• Cultural: moral truths are relative to
(created by) societies, not individuals.
6.A.1. Morality Grounded in
Unchanging Spiritual Forms: Plato
• Thesis: objective morality is grounded in
the eternal spiritual realm of the forms.
Plato’s view of the universe.
• Spiritual realm: contains perfect forms of
mathematics and morality.
• Physical realm: contains imperfect physical
things which gain their character by
participating in the spiritual forms.
Allegory of the cave.
• People are chained inside a cave, and think
that their shadows are reality’ one man
escapes, discovers the real world, returns to
tell the others, but is ridiculed.
• Discovery of the forms is difficult, painful,
and nearly impossible to convey to others.
6.A.2. Moral Relativism: Sextus,
Montaigne, and Mackie
Sextus Empiricus
• Thesis: nothing is by nature good or evil,
and moral notions are just a matter of
personal and social preference.
• General skepticism: we cannot gain
knowledge of any subject, and the best way
to achieve mental tranquility is to simply
withhold our beliefs.
Montaigne
• Thesis: moral values are matters of custom,
which change radically in different cultures.
Mackie
• Thesis: moral skepticism is supported by the fact
that different cultures have different moral practices.
• Moral skepticism: there are no objective moral
values; instead, such values are created by people.
• Why diverse practices support skepticism: “people
approve of monogamy because they participate in a
monogamous way of life rather than that they
participate in a monogamous way of life because
they approve of monogamy”.
6.A.3. The Case Against Moral
Relativism: James Rachels.
• Thesis: there are universal values.
Cultural differences argument
• (1) Different cultures have different moral
codes.
• (2) Therefore, there is no objective “truth”
in morality. Right and wrong are only
matters of opinion, and opinions vary from
culture to culture.
• Criticism: the above argument is unsound
because premise 1 is about beliefs, and the
conclusion is about fact.
• Three consequences of supposing cultural relativism
is true.
• We could no longer say that customs of other
societies are morally inferior to our own (but we
have universal intuitions against slavery and anti-
Semitism).
• We could decide whether actions are right or wrong
just by consulting the standards of our society (but
few think that society has a perfect moral code).
• The idea of moral progress is brought into doubt
(but this would imply that there is no justification
for moral reform).
• There are fewer cultural differences than
relativists claim.
• Hindu practice of not eating cows: we agree
that we shouldn't eat Grandma; we simply
disagree about whether the cow is
Grandma.
• Three core values common to all cultures
(which are necessary for society to exist).
• Care for children: perpetuation of society
would cease.
• Truth telling: communication would be
impossible.
• Prohibition against murder: society on any
large scale would collapse.
Section B. Can Human Conduct
be Selfless?
• 1. Whether Human Nature is inherently Good
or Evil: Mencius and Hsun-tzu
• 2. The Selfish Origins of Pity and Charity:
Thomas Hobbes
• 3. Love of Others not Opposed to Self-Love:
Joseph Butler
• 4. Altruism and Sociobiology: Edward O.
Wilson
Introduction
• Psychological egoism: human conduct is
selfishly motivated, and we cannot perform
actions from any other motive.
• Psychological altruism: while much of our
conduct is selfishly motivated, human
beings are at least occasionally capable of
acting selflessly.
6.B.1. Whether Human Nature is inherently
Good or Evil: Mencius and Hsun-tzu.
• Kao-tzu’s thesis: human nature is neither
good nor evil, but can be fashioned in either
direction through environmental influences.
• Mencius’s thesis: human nature is inherently
good.
• Hsun-tzu’s thesis: human nature is inherently
bad, and we need customs to enforce proper
behavior.
6.B.2. The Selfish Origins of Pity
and Charity: Thomas Hobbes.
• Thesis: human actions are motivated by
self-interest.
• Selfish motivations behind pity: we imagine
ourselves in a situation of misery.
• Selfish motivations behind charity: we
delight in exercising our power over other
people.
6.B.3. Love of Others not Opposed to
Self-Love: Joseph Butler (Sermon 11).