Moral Relativism

Abstract

Moral or ethical relativism is the idea that morality is relative to each culture. It claims that moral judgements are, and can only be, based on a culture’s beliefs, values and customs; there are no universal moral principles. Moral or ethical subjectivism, which is a more extreme version of relativism, asserts that morality is relative to each individual. It claims that moral judgements are, and can only be, based on (report or express) an individual’s feelings; there are no objective moral principles. Relativist and subjectivist views of morality are quite common in liberal-democratic societies, and many students initially express them. It is often said that moral beliefs are merely opinions, whether of cultures or of individuals, which are equally Valid’; there is no one right answer to moral questions. Moral relativism is implicitly appealed to by conservatives, to claim that traditional cultural practices are immune to moral criticism because they are ‘our tradition’ or ‘our culture’, as well as by would-be radicals, to claim that freedom, democracy and human rights are merely ‘Western’ values, whose absence from a society is merely a cultural difference, which ought to be tolerated, and whose promotion is ‘moral imperialism’. However, few philosophers defend moral relativism or subjectivism. One who does, Gilbert Harman, says:

Moral relativism denies that there are universal basic moral demands and says different people are subject to different basic moral demands depending on the social customs, practices, conventions, values, and principles that they accept.¹