James Rachels• 1941 – 2003• Philosopher by trade• Argues against relativism

Cultural Diversity Argument

• 1. Culture X believes action A is required. • 2. Culture Y believes action A is impermissible. • 3. The two cultures disagree. • 4. If two cultures disagree, there is no truth of

the matter. • Thus, there is no truth about the permissibility

of action A.

Relativism and Subjectivism

• Relativism: The truth of a moral claim is determined by the beliefs of the culture. The truth varies from culture to culture.

• Subjectivism: The truth of a moral claim is determined by the beliefs of the individual. Different people can have different moral truths.

Relativism• Descriptive: It just tells us what

people believe, but not whether they’re right or wrong.

• Normative: It tells us that the truth really is tied to what people believe.

General Version • 1.Different cultures have different

moral beliefs. • 2. Thus, there is no universal truth

in ethics.

RachelsThe question: Is the argument valid?Premise 1 in the general version is

about what people believe or accept. Premise 2 is about whether there are moral facts.

There is no valid rule of inference that allows us to determine how the world is based on what people believe about it.

Are the Premises True?• All cultures accept some basic

beliefs. • Do not kill innocent people; care

for the young; etc. • A culture that did not have these

beliefs would not last long

Moral or Historical Disagreement?

• Culture X thinks God said to do A. • Culture Y thinks God said not to do

A. • The disagreement is not about

whether one should obey God; it is about what God said.

• “You should obey God” is moral• “God said such and such” is

historical

There are some universal values

Descriptive• Cultures generally

care for their young• Cultures generally

prohibit murder ( at least within the tribe)

Normative• Cultures without these

values would not survive.

• Cultures must have these values.

Costs and Cautions of Relativism

Costs• We cannot condemn

forced genital mutilation and other practices we deem wrong. They’re not really wrong.

• Child molestation is not really wrong.

Caution• Be careful about how

we evaluate practices. ‘Different’ does not equal ‘wrong’ but that does not mean nothing is really wrong.

• Do not excuse our own practices from evaluation.