{"id":7893,"date":"2018-06-23T15:53:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T15:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.plato-philosophy.org\/?post_type=teachertoolkit&#038;p=7893"},"modified":"2025-02-17T13:46:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T21:46:48","slug":"ethical-relativism","status":"publish","type":"teachertoolkit","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/ethical-relativism\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical Relativism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Moral Relativism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many students come to the classroom assuming values are variant.\u00a0 Have you heard any of the following?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After all, we are all different, right?<\/li>\n<li>Wouldn\u2019t it be boring if we all believed the same thing?<\/li>\n<li>To each his own!<\/li>\n<li>Celebrate diversity?<\/li>\n<li>Who am I to judge someone else if they feel they are doing the right thing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are common beliefs and claims and often come from a good place:\u00a0 the desire to be open-minded and accepting of others.\u00a0 And indeed, in many areas of our life, we should acknowledge diversity is simply cultural, religious, or personally grounded.\u00a0 Can I really make you agree that blue is the best color or that broccoli tastes delicious?\u00a0 I bet not!<\/p>\n<p>So, where are we when it comes to ethical values?\u00a0 Ethical relativism claims that all values are dependent on what people believe or accept\u2014not just matters of taste like food and colors. Watch the video posted at the bottom; it offers some great clarifying definitions.\u00a0 Have your students watch this video and then discuss what they think about values.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion Questions after the video:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Do you agree that all values depend on what a culture accepts? Or what an individual believes and feels?<\/li>\n<li>Can anyone think of a value that they would say is universal?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Activity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Come up with a list of beliefs and practices that claim X or Y is a good\/bad thing to do.\u00a0 Look at each one to see if everyone agrees that the example is truly relative or whether some of the examples may be more problematic.\u00a0 Examples follow.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\"><strong>Value<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><strong>Truly Relative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><strong>Not relative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><strong>Why?<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">Eating dog<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">Child marriage<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">FGM<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">Premarital sex<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">Beating children for discipline<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">slavery<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\">Eating with one\u2019s hands<\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"157\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"161\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"159\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"146\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Thinking further through careful reading<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Louis Pojman has written an excellent analysis of moral relativism and why it cannot be claimed as a viable moral theory.\u00a0 His essay \u201cA defense of Ethical Objectivism\u201d has been anthologized in many places.\u00a0 Get copies for the students.\u00a0 [Not available online]<\/p>\n<p>In this essay he outlines the arguments for relativism and shows step by step both the consequences that follow from this position as well as why the argument itself is not sound.\u00a0 He then builds a case form moral objectivism appealing mostly to prima facie principles.\u00a0 He ends by exploring why we find moral relativism such an attractive theory.<\/p>\n<p>This essay is challenging and high school students will need both time to work through it and guidance along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moral Relativism Many students come to the classroom assuming values are variant.\u00a0 Have you heard any of the following? After all, we are all different, right? Wouldn\u2019t it be boring if we all believed the same thing? To each his own! Celebrate diversity? Who am I to judge someone else if they feel they are <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/ethical-relativism\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Ethical Relativism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15896,"template":"","toolkitcategory":[756,29],"gradelevel":[48],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-7893","teachertoolkit","type-teachertoolkit","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","toolkitcategory-ethics","toolkitcategory-history-social-studies","gradelevel-high-school-and-beyond"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ethical Relativism - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethical Relativism - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moral Relativism Many students come to the classroom assuming values are variant.\u00a0 Have you heard any of the following? 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