Ethical Relativism

A detailed Summary of Ethical Relativism


Who is to judge what is right and what is wrong?

In the South flying the Rebel flag is considered to be a perfectly normal thing to do. In other parts of the country it is considered to be offensive to African Americans. Some people in the South claim they are proud of their Southern heritage, and that the Rebel flag is the flag of the south not the flag of slavery. People in other parts of the country feel the flag is a reminder of a horrible part of the United State's past and should never be flown again. Because one group of people finds an action to be acceptable does not mean that it is acceptable to every one, as Ethical Relativism would have one believe.

Ethical Relativism, simply stated, means that there are not intrinsically right or wrong actions. What is socially acceptable is widely variable. If moral standards go no deeper than social customs, no one way of doing things is any better or worse than the next. No principles are universally valid. All moral principles are valid relative to cultural tastes. The rules of the society serve as a standard.

Ethical relativism brings about tolerance of other cultures. Ethical Relativism keeps societies


Ethical relativism confuses what should be done with what is currently being done. If no one set of socially approved habits is any better or worse that another, we are forced to condone practices in other societies that we find intolerable.

Relativists often argue that a society that honors free speech and freedom of religion must relinquish any notion of absolute truth or morality because this stifles the free exchange of ideas. Relativism is seen as required for a democracy of ideas and norms. Ethical Relativists also believe the sheer diversity of moral and religious ideas within and between societies is invoked as evidence for relativism. With so many options before us, who is to say what is true or false, right or wrong? We are left with relativism.

As a Christian, I find Ethical Relativism to be the 'easy way out'; if someone is doing something that one knows to be morally wrong, it is very easy to say "well that is just the way they do things there". God gave us rules to live by; they are not hard to understand. These laws are universal, and are to be followed by all Christians. Even if one is not a Christian, these rules are very basic and should be inherent as a human being. They are things that every human being should know, do not kill another person, do n

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