Lecture 1: subjectivism & objectivism

cultural relativism: no objective moral standard, only relative to a culture

ethics: study of moral standards. these standards are:

• subjectivism: based on feelings
  • example: “boooo i think this sucks”
  • can’t account for disagreements (if someone criticises you, you could just say “muh culture”)
  • even if agreement in belief, may have a conflict of attitudes: I agree you like something, but think you shouldn’t and encourage you not to
    • objectivist: “you should change your attitude for good reasons”
  • why people like it: moral standards not ‘scientifically testable’ so seem up to us
  • why people don’t: there’s stuff that seems clearly criticizable (slavery, racism) for good reasons
• objectivism: based on reasons
  • example: “this objectively sucks for good reasons”

why ethics? helps resolve moral dilemmas and make decisions in a systematic, intelligent way.

Todo:

• read chapter 2 (challenge of cultural relativism):
• section 3.4