RE: Any Moral Relativists in the House?
June 15, 2021 at 11:38 pm
(This post was last modified: June 15, 2021 at 11:40 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(June 15, 2021 at 9:43 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: Moral relativism sounds appealing because buried in it is the notion that "One should not judge other cultures or consider them evil because their practices seem abhorrent from your point of view."
Let me repeat that: "One should not judge other cultures or consider them evil because their practices seem abhorrent from your point of view." The irony is: that's a realist statement. Many cultures the world over do not believe such a thing. But if such a thing is true, then the opinion of any culture isn't going to change that.
THAT is where I'm coming from. Maybe "incoherent" is too strong a word, but that is my main issue with relativism, and I think it's reasonable to have this issue with it. Realist and nihilistic claims BOTH say something tangible about the possible existence of moral facts. Relativism does not.
A cultural relativist can make any criticism of any moral system that a realist might, and, like a realist, believe that a person can be morally incorrect. Relativism is a position on the referent of those facts, just as any other moral position. That being said, suppose we found a relativist who gave us that advice. It's good advice, isn't it? To be mindful of the judgements we make. A realist would have the same problems with a judgement specifically dependent on an individual pov that a cultural relativist would. Relativists and realists agree, together, that subjectivism is wrong.
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