Full transcript
0:00The A to Z of isms... relativism.
0:03Moral relativism is the view that what's right in one culture
0:07may be wrong in another,
0:09and that there's no way of judging between the two - it's all relative.
0:12There's no absolute truth of the matter.
0:15Different strokes for different folks -
0:17and that's OK.
0:19Imagine a Martian landing on Earth -
0:21she would see that people behave differently in different places.
0:24They've got different moral rules, different social customs.
0:28What's right in one location is wrong in another.
0:32She might well conclude
0:33that there's no such thing as 'the right way to live'
0:36or the 'right thing to do' for everyone at all times.
0:40It's all a matter of cultural norms.
0:43So in parts of Spain, bullfighting is seen as a spectacle,
0:46whereas in many other countries it's considered outrageous cruelty.
0:51Try setting up a bull ring in present-day London, for instance.
0:54If the visiting Martian could get an overview of the history of the world,
0:57she'd see that in Ancient Rome it was fine
0:59to have gladiatorial combat to the death and to own slaves,
1:03but that both practices would be widely frowned upon
1:05in present-day Rome.
1:07Or Amsterdam. Or elsewhere.
1:09Attending fights to the death and keeping slaves
1:11was acceptable for the Romans, but would be wrong in today's Europe.
1:16This sort of relativism has been popular with some anthropologists,
1:19who've attempted to appreciate other cultures from within,
1:22understanding sets of interwoven practices
1:24as responses to particular circumstances and traditions.
1:28They recognise that morality is different in different cultures,
1:32and they often argue that it's ethnocentric
1:35to impose your own set of values elsewhere, as if you know best.
1:40Such non-judgmental relativism might seem attractive,
1:43but think about Nazi Germany.
1:46There it became socially acceptable, and even required,
1:49to treat Jews, homosexuals, and Gypsies as less than human.
1:54This became 'right' there, both legally and morally.
1:58A relativist would simply have to bite the bullet,
2:01and say that that was indeed 'right' for Nazi Germany -
2:04that's what morality meant there -
2:06and that a morality which treats everybody with equal respect
2:09is no better or worse than the Nazi way of doing things -
2:13just different.
2:14Unless you want to embrace that sort of repugnant conclusion,
2:17it's probably best to steer clear of moral relativism.
2:20Some people go further, and say that everything is relative, even truth.
2:25That what is true at one time and one place
2:27isn't true for everyone everywhere.
2:29Or that there's no such thing as objective truth,
2:32just the truth according to me.
2:33We see hints of this in politics today.
2:36There is a big problem with this sort of relativism though,
2:38the theory of relativism itself would have to, on its own account,
2:42be relative.
2:44So the theory that truth is relative couldn't be absolutely true.
2:49Thanks for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe! :)