Question

What does it mean to say that an ethical standard is objective? In what ways do ethical relativists deny the objectivity of ethics, and why do you think they do so? Is morality objective? Defend your answer.

Answer 1

• To say that an ethical standard is objective means that it applies to everyone. Ethical relativists acknowledge moral truths but deny that they are objective. There are two categories for relativists: Individual ethical relativism (aka ethical subjectivism) and cultural ethical relativism.
• In Ethical subjectivism(ES), it is an individual, it is the view that some x is morally right if and only if I (me, myself, only I) approve of x or MY value commitments allow x. I think the reason why they deny objectivity in ES, is because it is solely based on the individual and their moral view, it does not apply to everyone else.
• Cultural relativism(CR) is the view that some x is morally right if and only if it is allowed by the ideals guiding my society. Again, this does not apply to everyone as a whole, but rather a group of people with the same moral view and who share the same culture.
• I think that it is not expected that all different cultures have the same moral views, which explains why CR denies objectivity.
• Both of these relativist subgroups deny objectivity, which is why they are both considered relativists, because they acknowledge moral truths but deny they are objective. Both views agree that humans are the authors of morality. If there are no humans, then there is no morality.
• The first thing to understand is that there is no such thing as objective morality. All morality is necessarily subjective. All morality is based on individual value judgments regarding any given moral issue at hand. Because nothing has value apart from a subject to value it, all value judgments are subjective. To be objective the value judgment would have to come from the object being valued, and that’s not possible.
• For morality to be objective, it must be based on something other than a value judgment of some kind, and it must exist apart from human valuations and be immune to them. Thus, it would apply to all humans all the time regardless of what any human thinks about the particular moral issue.