Ariadne's Thread on Ethical Relativism
Replies
speaker
John
(main path)

speaker
Vera

speaker
Source
Document

speaker
Source
Document
 
Tolerance

(Click here to continue on the main path)

Ann Speaking
I'm not so sure, Ayesha.

I agree that tolerance is often a good thing, but I'm not sure that that is the question here.

I think we are asking whether a moral rule requiring tolerance of other values and ways of life logically follows from the meta-theory of ethical relativism. I don't think it does. Let me approach this two different ways:

  • First, we all agree that there is a lot of moral diversity in the world. But this is just a statement of fact. There is no way to derive a moral rule like "We should be tolerant of diverse moral values" or "We should not interfere with other cultures" from a simple anthropological fact.

  • Second, let's focus on the "equal validity" or "equal truth" of some contradictory judgments. This is a meta-ethical thesis about moral judgments. How are we supposed to derive a moral judgment like "We should be tolerant of diverse moral values" or "We should not interfere with other cultures" from a meta-ethical thesis?

I don't see how we can derive any moral rule from either the fact of diversity or the meta-ethical thesis about equal validity. This doesn't apply just to tolerance, it applies to any moral rule.


Ariadne's Home Contact Ariadne at: Ethical Relativism Home
Ethics Bibliography Ethical Relativism Contents