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Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Mälardalen University2005

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

CD5590 LECTURE 2

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Ethical Relativism, Absolutism,

and Pluralism

Based on: Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.Director, The Values Institute

University of San Diego

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Classical Ethical/Cultural Relativism

The Greek Skeptics (1)

Xenophanes (570-475 BCE)“Ethiopians say that their gods are flat-nosed and dark, Thracians that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired. If oxen and horses and lions had hands and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men, horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses and oxen to look like ox, and each would make the god’s bodies have the same shape as they themselves had.”

The historian Heroditus(484-425 BCE) “Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.”

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Classical Ethical/Cultural Relativism

The Greek Skeptics (2)

Sextus Empiricus (fl. 200 CE)

Gives example after example of moral standards that differ from one society to another, such as attitudes about homosexuality, incest, cannibalism, human sacrifice, the killing of elderly, infanticide, theft, consumption of animal flesh…

Sextus Empiricus concludes that we should doubt the existence of an independent and universal standard of morality, and instead regard moral values as the result of cultural preferences.

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Later Ethical Relativism (1)

French philosopher Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592):Custom has the power to shape every possible kind of cultural practice. Although we pretend that morality is a fixed feature of nature, morality too is formed through custom.

Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) “fashion, vogue, custom, and law are the chief foundation of all moral determinations”

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Arguments for Ethical Relativism

Cultural Differences Argument

(1) Different cultures have different moral codes.

(2) Moral opinions vary from culture to culture. (3) Neither opinion is right or wrong. _____________________________________

There is no objective truth in morality.

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Insights of Ethical Relativism

Ethical relativism has several important insights: The fact of moral diversity The need for tolerance and understanding We should not pass judgment on practices in

other cultures when we don’t understand them

Sometimes reasonable people may differ on what’s morally acceptable

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Three Questions about the Meaning of Relativism

Morality is relative.

Relative to what?

•Individuals

•Cultures

•Nations

•Groups

How much of morality is relative?

•All

•Most

•Some

What part of morality is relative?

•Behavior

•Peripheral values

•Fundamental values

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Relative to what?

Descriptive ethical relativists say that moral values are relative, but to what:– Culture– Nation– Group – Individual—subjectivism

How do we individuate cultures?

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What is relative?

Behavior– Different behaviors may exemplify the same value– The same behavior may exemplify different values

in different culture Core values

– Are there central values found in all cultures? Peripheral values

– Obviously some culturally-specific values

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Ethical Relativism: Limitations Presupposes an epistemological solipsism*

Is unhelpful in dealing with overlaps of cultures--precisely where we need help.– Commerce and trade– Media– World Wide Web

[*Solipsism - belief in self as only reality: the belief that the only thing somebody can be sure of is that he or she exists, and that true knowledge of anything else is impossible]

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Ethical Relativism:Solipsism

Sometimes we say that we can’t judge other cultures because we can’t fully understand them.

Do we need full understanding to judge something?

Do we even have full understanding of ourselves?

Would this eliminate anthropology as a discipline?

Does it deny a main goal of multiculturalism?

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Ethical Relativism:Overlapping Cultures, 1

Ethical relativism suggests that we let each culture live as it sees fit

This is only feasible when cultures don’t have to interact with one another.

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Ethical Relativism:Overlapping Cultures, 2

The challenge of the coming century is precisely overlapping cultures:– Multinational corporations– International media--BBC,

MTV, CNN– International sports--

Olympics– World Wide Web

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Ethical Relativism:Overlapping Cultures, 3

The actual situation in today’s world is much closer to the diagram at the right.

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Ethical Relativism:A Self-Defensive Position

Ethical relativism maintains that we cannot make moral judgments about other cultures

The corollary of this is that we are protected in principle against the judgments made by other cultures

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From the solitude of the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia, a monk works as an electronic scrivener on the Internet.

Rembrandt Monk Reading,

1661

Taliban law requires women in Afghanistan to wear a chador or burqa that covers the face and entire body.

Fencer – protective suit

Astronaut – protective suit

Different kids of clothing

Nuns uniforms

A proper dress for her?

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Jane Seymour by Holbein,1537

Leonardo da Vinci Lady with an Ermine 1483-90

Different kids of clothing

Dieric Bouts - Madonna and Child

Catherine of Aragon in middle age, c. 1525 Tudor England dress

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Arguments Against Ethical Relativism

There Are Some Universals in Codes of Behavior across Cultures

Three core common values: caring for children truth telling (trust) and prohibitions against murder

The society must guard against killing, abusing the young, lying, breaking promises or other commitments at its own peril. Were the society not to establish some rules against such behaviors, the society itself would cease to exist.

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Ethical Objectivism

The view that moral principles have objective validity whether or not people recognize them as such, that is, moral rightness or wrongness does not depend on social approval, but on such independent considerations as whether the act or principle promotes human flourishing or ameliorates human suffering.

Plato (427-347 BCE)

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Ethical Absolutism/Universalism/Realism

Ethical Absolutism: Morality is eternal and unchanging and holds for all rational beings at all times and places. In other words, moral right and wrong are fundamentally the same for all people. (Morality is considered different than mere etiquette).

There is only one correct answer to every moral problem. A completely absolutist ethic consists of absolute principles that provide an answer for every possible situation in life, regardless of culture.

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Ethical Absolutism

Absolutism comes in many versions--including the divine right of kings

Absolutism is less about what we believe and more about how we believe it

Common elements:– There is a single Truth– Their position embodies that

truth

Louis XIV(1638 – 1715)

Louis the Great, The Sun King

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Ethical Absolutism

Ethical absolutism gets some things right– We need to make judgments – Certain things are intolerable

But it gets some things wrong, including:– Our truth is the truth– We can’t learn from others

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Ethical Pluralism (1)

Combines insights of both relativism and absolutism:

– The central challenge: how to live together with differing and conflicting values

– Fallibilism: recognizes that we might be mistaken

– Sees disagreement as a possible strength

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Ethical Pluralism (2)

Moral pluralists maintain that there are moral truths, but they do not form a body of coherent and consistent truths in the way that one finds in the science or mathematics. Moral truths are real, but partial. Moreover, they are inescapably plural. There are many moral truths, not just one–and they may conflict with one another.

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Ethical Pluralism (3)

Pluralism is the cultural manifestation of ethical individualism; it is implied by the respect for the human being, for what it means to be human.

We have differing moral perspectives, but we must often inhabit a common world.

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Ethical Pluralism (4)Ethical pluralism offers three categories to

describe actions: Prohibited: those actions which are not seen

as permissible at all– Absolutism sees the importance of this

Tolerated: those actions and values in which legitimate differences are possible– Relativism sees the importance of this

Ideal: a moral vision of what the ideal society would be like

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Ethical Pluralism (5)

For each action or policy, we can place it in one of three regions:– Ideal--Center– Permitted--Middle

• Respected• Tolerated

– Prohibited--Outside

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Five Questions

What is the present state? What is the ideal state? What is the minimally acceptable state? How do we get from the present to the

minimally acceptable state? How do we get from the minimum to the

ideal state?

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Developing a Moral Stance

Here’s a way of visualizing these issues:

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What is the present state? 1) Overall, the actual state of race and

ethnicity in our society is:– a) Excellent– B Very good– c) Good– d) Poor– e) Terrible

2) List three important facts that support your evaluation in #1

– a) – b) – c)

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What is the present state?--#2

#3. What are the three most important issues facing us in regard to race and ethnicity today?– a) – b) – c)

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What is the minimally acceptable state?

What are the minimum conditions necessary for a just society in regard to race and ethnicity? List at least three characteristics or conditions. – #1– #2– #3

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What is the ideal state?

What are the ideal conditions necessary for a just society in regard to race and ethnicity? List at least three characteristics or conditions.– #1– #2– #3

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How should we get from the present to the minimally acceptable state?

How should we get from the actual state to the minimally acceptable state? List specific ways of getting from the actual state of society to the minimal conditions listed earlier.– Examples: laws, taxes, regulations,

protests, civil disobedience

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How should we get from the present to the ideal state?

How should we get from the actual state to the ideal state? List specific ways of getting from the actual state of society to the ideal conditions listed above.– Examples: Public relations campaigns,

education, tax incentives, laws

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AppendixDeveloping Moral Common Ground

Goals Understanding

– ourselves– others– the issue

Common Ground– agreement where appropriate– living with some disagreements– changing the situation