Week 1 Demonstration of Discourse
Initial post: Provide a link, copy and paste, or describe a news story or advertisement that
you think demonstrates an example of moral relativism or moral absolutism.
Include a
detailed description of the content if you provide a link. (Always cite sources, including
textbook (Hinman, 2013, p. 49)). Initial post due by Wednesday at 11:59 pm; complete
remaining posts by Saturday at 11:59 pm.
Moral relativism affords a person the ability to look at ethical actions from
another perspective, thereby demonstrating that there is no absolute set of moral
principles. Morals are, in fact, subjective. What may seem unethical to one will not seem
unethical to another. “We can never fully understand another culture”, (Hinman, 2013).
Relativism evaluates circumstances from the perspective of the culture in question while
absolutism asserts that there is one correct way to do so. For some ethical dilemmas,
absolutism can be agreed upon, such as being deserving of punishment for heinous
crimes such as murder or rape. These morals are generally accepted and agreed upon
across most cultures. The moral dilemma then becomes what punishment is deserved. Is
the death penalty moral? Is life in prison warranted?
The most common discussion that includes moral relativism I can think of is with
regards to capital punishment. One recent news story relating to this was published in the
Toronto Sun. There was a story that took place in Yemen in which three individuals were
publically executed for the rape and murder of a child. Massive crowds gathered to
witness and applaud the executions (Hunter, 2018). Murder and rape are both crimes that
are widely considered to be heinous and deserving of the maximum punishment. Moral
relativism would argue that the way this incident was handled was the cultural norm in
Yemen. Moral absolutism may agree or disagree and say that murder in any context,
including executing a person who committed murder, is wrong. This is an extreme
example, but I would expect most to agree that the consequences fit the crime.
References
Hinman, L. M. (2013).
Ethics: A pluralistic approach to moral theory
. Belmont, CA.:
Thomson / Wadsworth.
Hunter, B. (2018, August 09). Yemen hangs three killer pedophiles in public. Retrieved
from
https://torontosun.com/news/crime/yemen-hangs-three-killer-pedophiles-in-
public
