The full set of slides on Relativism are supposed to be available through the online library reserves by Monday or Tuesday.  Once on the web, you should be able to print them for yourselves.

There are also hard copies available from the print shopt at the back of Quad Books in the Maggie Benson Centre.  They charge $.06/page and do the copying for you.

Future slides will be available from the online library reserves.
 
 

Slide 1
Most students would probably say “morality is relative.”

But there are a number of things that one can mean by this, some of which are mutually inconsistent.

Many of these confusions are present in the selection by Sumner “Folkways”
 

Slide 2
In the film clip, two ideas come out:

• Our customs and values are largely a product of when and where we are born.

• There is no good reason for preferring our own values over those of any others.  That is, no set of values is objectively any better or worse than any other.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 3
We should be tolerant of those who have different moral beliefs than our own:

[simpsons clip: Apu and Lisa on vegetarianism]

Even if we feel entitled to morally criticize different moral beliefs, we should not intervene and impose our values on others
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 4
Finally, what is perhaps most accurately labeled ‘relativism’ is that view that what is right and wrong is determined by the mores of a culture.  As Sumner puts it:

“The ‘right’ way is the way which the ancestors used and which has been handed down.  The tradition is its own warrant…The notion of right is in the folkways…When we come to the folkways we are at the end of our analysis.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 5
Putting these together, we get six distinct claims that are often referred to collectively as cultural relativism
 

1.  Cultural Differences Claim: different cultures have different moral beliefs.

2.  Non-Objectivity Claim: no moral code has objective standing.

3.  Non-Absolutist Claim: there is no moral code that is necessarily binding on all people at all times.

4.  Tolerance Claim: it is wrong to criticize the moral codes of other cultures.

5.  Non-Intervention Claim:  it is wrong to intervene in other cultures and force ones values on them.

6.  Relativity Claim: the moral codes of a culture determine what is right within that culture.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 6
In discussing the plausibility of cultural relativism, we need to make a descriptive/normative distinction:

A claim is descriptive if it                                                                            .

A claim is normative if it                                                                             .
 
 

The claim ‘slavery was morally right in the southern United States prior to the American Civil War’ is ambiguous between:

    Most southern Americans                         that slavery was morally  right,

    Southern Americans                                             to have practiced slavery.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 7
The cultural differences claim is uncontroversial, but what follows from this?

    (note: this following is an extended discussion of the point made on pages 1-2 of ET)
 

There are two ways of evaluating an argument:

         validity and soundness
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 8

Validity concerns the argument’s                   ,  soundness its                      .
 

An argument is valid if and only if the                                follows from the                            , that is, it is

not possible for the                              to be true and the                                  false.
 

An argument is sound if and only if it is                                 and has                                                .
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 9
Is the following valid:

1.  All dogs are mammals.
2.  Santa’s Little Helper is a dog.
3.  Santa’s Little Helper is a mammal
 

What about:

1.  All that glitters is gold.
2.  These $10 earrings glitter.
3.  These $10 earrings are gold.
 

Note:  an argument can be valid even if all its premises are false!!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 10
One way to prove                                    is to preserve the form, while substituting premises that are                      and a conclusion that is               .

For example:

1.  If Rover is a dog, then Rover is a mammal.
2.  Rover is a mammal.
3.  Therefore, Rover is a dog.
 

Has the following form:
1.
2.
3.
 

We can substitute:
1.  If Calgary is B.C., then Calgary is in Canada (T)
2.  Calgary is in Canada (T)
3.  Therefore, Calgary is in B.C. (F)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 11

Is the following argument valid:
1.  Different cultures have different moral codes. (CDC)
2.  Therefore, the moral codes of a culture determine what is right within that culture (RC)
 
 

Has the following form:
1.  Different cultures have different beliefs about X.
2.  Therefore, the beliefs of a culture determine what is the case regarding X.
 
 

1.Different cultures have different beliefs about the shape of the earth. (CDC’)
2.Therefore, the beliefs of a culture determine what the shape of the earth is for the people of that culture. (RC’)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 12

Could the argument be amended to avoid the absurdity?

1.  Different cultures have different moral codes. (CDC)
2.  No moral code has objective standing. (NOC)
3.  Therefore, the moral codes of a culture determine what is right within that culture. (RC)
 
 

Immune to the previous counter-argument:
1’.  Different cultures have different beliefs about the shape of the earth. (CDC’)
2’.  Beliefs about the shape of the earth are not objective. (NOC’)
3’.  Therefore, the beliefs of a culture determine what the shape of the earth is for the people of that culture. (RC’)
 
 

Can avoid the conclusion, while accepting its validity because premise 2’ is false.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Slide 13
One might think:
 
 

But the NOC and the RC are        , meaning that they cannot both be true at the same time.

This means that either:
(i)The argument is                     , or
(ii)At least one of the premises is                     .
 
 

Bottom line: nothing follows from the CDC (descriptive relativism)