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Example Of Ethical Relativism

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Part 1 – Ethical Relativism

What often varies in ethical belief held by different cultures and societies at different times is defined as ethical relativism. (Unknown, sce.edu, 1992)
In order to understand ethical relativism we must first examine its claims. It encompasses a number of different beliefs stating that there are no universal norms or criteria to determine what may or may not be an ethical way to act. This belief is based on how each person or society may interpret the “rightness” of each ethical or moral issue. Society’s ethics change and evolve over time to fit current circumstances. Ethics refers to society’s determination of what is right and wrong while morality refers to an individual’s determination of right and wrong. These two …show more content…

3) The calculations of what is right is complicated and time consuming.
4) The good achieved may come at the cost of conditions that are harmful to some.
5) It is weak in defending the needs and rights of the individual for the cost of the greater good.
Objections for Deontology can be broken down into two key points;
1) The Indeterminacy Objection – content of deontological moral theory is underdeveloped for deriving sets of duties, rights and permissions.
2) The Rigor Objection – Deontology produces determinant answers that are too inflexible and therefor implausible. (Kay)
In Conclusion, Utilitarianism is strong on maximising the overall good, but weak on protecting the individual in extreme cases. The greatest numbers of people affected were considered as each person to count as one, and no one as more than one. This theory is a form of altruism. Deontology creates effective sets of moral rules that may be applied universally such as “you should not kill” or “you should not lie”, but is ultimately too inflexible and does not take the consequences of a moral decision.

Works Cited
Dave Robinson, C. G. (1997). Introducing

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