Relativism and Morality

Relativism and Morality

According to Lenn Goodman, in “Some Moral Minima” (Goodman, 2010, 86) there are certain things that are happening around the world that are simply wrong. Mr. Goodman highlights these things as being “(1) genocide, politically induced famine, and germ warfare; (2) terrorism, hostage taking, and child warriors; (3) slavery, polygamy, and incest; (3) rape and female genital cutting.” (Goodman, 2010, 88) I feel that Mr. Goodman is correct in his assessment that there are things that are simply wrong. However, there are some cultures that accept the behaviors that Goodman outlines as being wrong (Boas, 2000).

Before we look at these various issues, first we must question ourselves as to what is considered as being morale in today's world. Things that are accepted as moral today were not accepted as being moral years ago. We also need to understand what relativism is and how it relates to each of the wrongs that Mr. Goodman points out. The best definition of relativism I have found is “the idea that one's beliefs and values are understood in terms of one's society, culture, or even one's own individual values.” (Mosser, 2010, 15) After reading Mr. Goodman's “Some Moral Minima”, I agreed with how Mr. Goodman supported his arguments that the previously listed acts were wrong. I also agreed with the challenges that Mr. Goodman presented as they related to relativism. Although some of the behaviors that Mr. Goodman speaks about are accepted, or justified, in other cultures they all have one thing in common. Mr. Goodman feels that “all the wrongs my proposed norms speak against drag with them some violation of the truth.” (Goodman, 2010, 92) I agree with Mr. Goodman's assessment that all of the wrongs that he points out do violate truth. In addition, I also ...