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Ruth Benedict A Defense Of Ethical Relativism

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Ethical Relativism is the belief that what is morally right and wrong varies from culture to culture, or even from person to person. Ruth Benedict writes, “A Defense of Ethical Relativism”, in which she presents data she has collected to defend ethical relativism. In contrast, Louis Pojman writes, “A Critique of Ethical Relativism”, in which he presents various problems with ethical relativism. Ethical relativism is not a good way of deciding between what is morally right and what is morally wrong.
In, “A Defense of Ethical Relativism”, Ruth Benedict presents data that she has collected about different cultures around the world. Benedict goes on to explain that what we believe is morally right or wrong in our culture may be completely …show more content…

“No one civilization can possibly utilize in its mores the whole potential range of human behavior.” (Pg. 41) Benedict makes it clear throughout her writings that she believes that one society is not able to decide what is morally right or wrong for another society. Benedict believes that every society is built upon its own morals and values, so for one society to say what another society is doing is wrong is irrelevant because that society has its own set of values in which it follows. However, Louis Pojman would disagree with this …show more content…

Pojman uses Ted Bundy as an example of how this idea is extremely problematic. If one were to follow subjectivism, then they morally could not tell Ted Bundy what he was doing is wrong because in his own morale code it is morally right to commit the crimes that he committed. Conventionalism is, “the view that there are no objective moral principles but that all valid moral principles are justified (or are made true) by virtue of their cultural acceptance, recognizes the social nature of morality.” (Pg. 46) Pojman explains how this is also problematic because if one were to follow this idea, then reformers such as Martin Luther King Jr and even Jesus were immoral because they did not accept the morals that were set by

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