Ethics

Ethics are normally divided up into 3 distinct areas;

1. Meta-Ethics This is concerned with the meaning of the language used in ethics and deals with issues such as the definition of ethical words 2. Normative Ethics This attempts to derive a set of rules and practical moral standards that enable us to tell if an action is right or wrong, ethical theories are part of this 3. Applied Ethics This is application of ethical theories to real-life, modern day issues, such as euthanasia, abortion, cloning, genetic research

Normative ethics can be further split up into 2 more categories; Deontological ethics, which deals with the intention of the action rather than the consequences, examples are NML, Kantian ethics and DCT There are also Teleological which focus more on the consequence of the action to determine its morality rather than the intention, examples are Utilitarianism and Situation ethics (weak consequentialist)

The idea of ethical relativism holds the idea that there are no universally valid moral principles, and that moral values are relative to the culture or age that they are part of There is no such thing as good in itself, and there is no objective truth for us to discover Different societies have different moral standards, no objective standard exists which can judge one culture better than the other, our own moral code is just one among many and there are no universal truths, they are only right to the society to which they apply and we need to be tolerant

Strengths and Reasons of Relativism

Religious influence is declining and we are developing a better understanding of other cultures Meta-ethics have revealed that we cannot agree on the definitions of good and bad and so we have no choice but to turn to cultural relativism We are developing more and more ethical theories and so there is more competition

Weaknesses
There can be no real evaluation to judge such practices like the holocaust, human sacrifice, slavery and other bad moral actions, it will depend on the culture It does not allow societies to develop into being more virtuous, for example, when following ethical relativism, it takes the society longer to realise that slavery for example is wrong

It gives little motivation to behaving morally good apart from to fit into society Just because cultures vary, it does mean there is no objective good, there are certain intrinsically morally wrong actions that have to be agreed on Ethical beliefs can change and can be too flexible when put under pressure, they rarely stand the test of time

The opposite to relativism is moral absolutism, it states that certain moral actions are true for everyone, everywhere, at every time Certain actions are right or wrong from an objective standpoint created by another supreme being, normally God, they are intrinsically right or wrong and this cannot change They have in themselves, the values of right or wrong, this ethical system is very easily to apply and is the basis for all religious ethics

Strengths
Provides a fixed ethical code by which to measure actions One culture can judge the actions of another culture as right or wrong It can support certain universal laws such as the declaration of human rights It is often seen as an impossible ideal (weakness?)

Weaknesses
It does not take into account the circumstances of each situation or the intention, but rather the consequences which could be unintended (see law of double effect) Absolutists can seem intolerant of cultural diversity It is hard to know what absolute morals are, how can we know for sure that the morals written in the bible are the true morals of God?