business ethics in-class activity
Business Ethics Summer 2022 (1) Week 1, Lecture 3
Chaeyoung Paek
In today’s class…
We’ll learn one of three moral theories we’ll look at, Cultural Relativism.
There will be an in-class activity at the end of the lecture; respond to the “1-3 in-class activity” on the course Blackboard page.
James Rachels, "The challenge of cultural relativism"
Moral Evaluation
Sometimes, we can make a moral evaluation of a certain action.
(ex1) Chaeyoung skipping the line at Target
Morally wrong / impermissible / blameworthy
(ex2) Sam helping a lost kid at Target
Morally right / permissible/ praiseworthy
(ex3) 10-month old baby crying at Target
Not the object of moral evaluation
Moral Evaluation
Some actions seem obviously morally wrong.
(ex) Killing an innocent person
And some actions seem obviously morally right.
(ex) Saving a drowning kid
But for some actions, we need to engage in thoughtful considerations or debates before we make a good moral evaluation.
(ex) Having an abortion before 6 weeks
Moral Theories
Moral theories offer a systematic way in which we can morally evaluate a given action.
A moral theory provides moral principles based on which we can make moral evaluation.
(ex) Egoism: <An agent, S, should X if and only if X benefits S.>
Having a particular moral theory at hand can prevent you from morally evaluating a given action based on a whim or making inconsistent moral evaluations.
Moral Theories
Throughout Week 1-2, we’ll look at 3 different moral theories:
Cultural Relativism
Utilitarianism
Kantian ethics.
Let’s begin with the one that’s most popular, Cultural Relativism.
Cultural Relativism
It seems plainly true that different cultures have different ways of life.
(ex) 27-year-old man living with his parents in the US vs. 27-year-old man living with his parents in South Korea
And it also seems true that we should not judge the social conventions of other cultures.
(ex) Eating pork
But different cultures may have different moral codes!
(ex) Early Innuits + Infanticide
Does it mean that we should also withhold our judgment when it comes to moral codes of different cultures?
Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism: You should X if and only if you are in a society that approves of X.
Cultural relativists often believe that…
There is no universal truth in ethics; there are no moral truths that hold for all people at all times.
The moral code of our society is not special; it is just one among many.
It is mere arrogance for us to try to judge the conduct of people from different societies.
Cultural Relativism
You might think that all of these points sound plausible; in fact, you might wholeheartedly agree with all claims from Cultural Relativism!
Here’s one argument for Cultural Relativism:
The cultural differences argument
P1. Early Innuits thought infanticide was morally permissible.
P2. We do not think infanticide is morally permissible.
C. Therefore, there is no universal moral truth on whether infanticide is permissible or not; it depends on what society you are in.
Cultural Relativism
The cultural differences argument
P1. Early Innuits thought infanticide was morally permissible.
P2. We do not think infanticide is morally permissible.
C. Therefore, there is no universal moral truth on whether infanticide is permissible or not; it depends on what society you are in.
Q. Is this argument valid? Sound?
Cultural Relativism
The cultural differences argument
Not valid; the conclusion does not follow from the premises!
Not sound; an invalid argument cannot be sound.
Why is it not valid?
Suppose that the opposite from the conclusion is true; then there is a universal moral truth re: infanticide—infanticide is not permissible.
But even if that’s the case, (P1) and (P2) are still true; so (P1) and (P2) do not entail the conclusion.
Objections to Cultural Relativism
But cultural relativists may point out that it’s not enough to criticize their argument; what we need to provide is some objections.
Objection #1. Implausible consequences
Cultural Relativism entails that societies are morally infallible.
But societies are morally fallible!
(ex) Nazis + an approval from society
(ex) Martin Luther King + a disapproval from society
Objections to Cultural Relativism
Objection #2. Inconsistent with moral progress
We believe that our society can make moral progress as we make scientific/social progresses.
But if Cultural Relativism is true, then moral progress does not even make sense!
(ex) Late 19th century US society approved eugenics
Can we, as members of 2022 US society, morally evaluate their approval of eugenics?
If we cannot, how can we say that American society has made moral progress with respect to eugenics?
Objections to Cultural Relativism
Objection #3. Illusory benefits
Some people believe that Cultural Relativism is worth defending because it would prescribe cultural tolerance.
But Cultural Relativism is compatible with extreme cultural intolerance!
(ex) Xenophobic society
Objections to Cultural Relativism
Objection #4. Ill-defined without non-arbitrary fix
Cultural Relativism says that you should X if and only if the society you are in approves of X.
But what it means for one to be “in” a society?
(ex) Flying over Peru
What counts as a “society”?
(ex) You & Your significant other
And what counts as an “approval”?
Moral Truths
Cultural Relativism is quite popular among people, but it is extremely unpopular among philosophers.
We’ve seen some reasons why that’s the case.
Perhaps cultural relativism is popular among people because they mistake Cultural Relativism as the proposal of cultural tolerance—which seems true!
But as Objection #3 shows, Cultural Relativism does not always promote cultural tolerance.
Moral Truths
In this class, at least, we’ll assume that there are universal moral truths.
Some of them may require a lot of philosophical investigations and debates; we may disagree on which is morally true or not.
But that does not mean that there are no universal moral truth; it just means that moral truths are hard to find, just like scientific truths are.
Exercise: Cultural Relativism
Go to the course Blackboard page and click “1-3 In-class Activity” in “Materials for 1-3” folder.
Answer the questions and click “Submit”!