The Case Against Ethical Relativism

“Is Morality Relative or are there Objective Moral Truths?”

In A Defense of Ethical Relativism by Ruth Benedict from her “Anthropology and the Abnormal,” Journal of General Psychology, in her part take on Modern Social Anthropology, Benedict views ethical relativism as part of the new modern civilization in which each society has their own moral views and “like a work of art” each culture has a theme and certain tendencies which they chose to favor. On the contrary, The Case Against Moral Relativism by Louis P. Pojman, moral relativism is viewed as a misled argument by relativists and explains in detail some of the moral differences in each culture and how this affects humanity as a whole. Subjectivism, “Morality is in the eye of the beholder,”

Pojman, begins by outlining two objectivist arguments and stating why people have been misled by relativist arguments. A quote taken from Gilbert Harman states different people will come to different conclusions instinctively on what they were taught as children and the surroundings as they grew up and declares himself a moral relativist. John Ladd believes in ethical relativism, in which moral righteousness and wrongness actions range from society to society, also an individual behavior depends on or is relative to where he belongs. Harman mainly spoke of the validity rather than the truth of moral principles. Relativism, as Pojman describes does tend to be more popular since each society has their own customs and there are no universal moral standards, behaviors depend on where they belong, therefore, there are no absolute or objective moral standards that account for all the people everywhere. Moral relativism, where conclusions depend on the person, I believe Pojman is correct in thinking most American students tend to be moral relativists. America, the land of the free and a melting pot, its citizens practice freely their beliefs and customs and are inclined to be more tolerant of their differences. As children grow, and America becomes more diverse, traditions are made new, ritual practices evolve and in turn beliefs merge into new convictions, consequently it is correct to think Americans tend to be moral