Since people often look at me like I’m a lunatic when I tell them I took philosophy in university, I’m posting this as an example of the type of paper I wrote during that time. Not that it is necessarily a typical philosophy paper, but it is representative of the sort of papers written by yours truly.
Ethical relativism comes in several forms. Firstly, descriptive relativism is the theory that real-world cultures vary greatly in terms of morality. Secondly, meta-ethical relativism states that cultures differ greatly in their meanings and uses of moral terms so as to render cross cultural discussions of morality and ethics unintelligible. Lastly, normative relativism is the theory that the actions that individuals ought to take are determined by the prevailing opinions of their culture. Another form of this last theory contends that persons ought to act according to their personal moral standards. The following discussion will attempt to refute each of these forms of ethical relativism.
Descriptive relativism is an important theory because it is often argued that, if it is true, at least one of the other theories of ethical relativism is also true. While there are certainly differences from one culture to the next on a wide variety of subjects, it is disputable whether or not there are meaningful differences between cultures in the area of morality. As to the exact moral actions that individuals in differing cultures are expected to perform, there is evident disagreement. Yet, in terms of prevailing principles of a more general kind there may be markedly less difference. For instance, while cultures may differ as to whether euthanasia can be a charitable act, most, if not all, cultures believe that charity itself is a moral virtue. Therefore, while the root of this disagreement may seem to be a difference in a general moral principle, it is actually in a difference in the application of the same general principle to a particular situation. Therefore, there may be less moral disagreement among cultures over morality than it would seem when examining isolated cases or particular situations.
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