Liberty University Phil201 Study Guide: Lesson 21

Liberty University Phil201 Study Guide: Lesson 21

The Challenge to Traditional Ethics: Cultural Relativism and Emotivism

Lesson Overview:

Before looking at the 3 major ethical theories, we should first explore and critique 2 challenges to traditional morality. The first of these is cultural relativism, which says that moral rules or norms vary from society to society. Therefore, whether a particular act is right or wrong depends on the society to which we are applying the rule. The second challenge is emotivism, which argues that moral claims don’t have any cognitive meaning at all. Instead, they are merely expressions of our feelings. We will examine both of these challenges, showing that they have severe problems of their own and should be rejected.

Tasks:

Read Chapters 2 and 3 of Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions, “Cultural Relativism” and “Emotivist Ethics.” As you do, consider the following questions and points:

·         Two implications of the Sumner quote.

·         The distinction between descriptive and normative statements.

·         Problems with the diversity thesis.

·         Problems with the dependency thesis.

·         Problems with ethnocentrism.

·         Holmes’s normative view.

·         The distinction between emotivism and ethical subjectivism.

·         Explain the 2 philosophical movements that led to emotivism.

·         Stevenson’s theory of the relation between facts and attitudes as a defense for emotivism.

·         Holmes’s 3 criticisms of emotivism.

Terms:

Make sure you fully understand the following terms and concepts:

·         Cultural Relativism

·         Diversity Thesis

·         Dependency Thesis

·         Ethnocentrism

·         Emotivism

·         Ethical Subjectivism

·         Ethical Intuitionism

·         Logical Positivism

·         Cognitive

·         Non-Cognitive