PHIL 3000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Honor Killing, Laziness, Reductio Ad Absurdum
30 May 2016
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People present relativism as a knockdown argument, but has little fame among philosophers. When we expose relativism to analysis, we discover deep problems. Theme: reductio ad absurdum (push it to the extreme and analyze) If relativism is correct, then every moral system is infallible (i. e. never mistaken) [and this absurb] Caveat: can have mistakes in beliefs, but not in its must cherished ideals. Troubling examples: honor killings subjugation of women and slaves. My own example: pay homeless people to fist fight. If ethical relativism is correct, then every moral system is equal [and that is absurb] Ethical subjectivism is correct: hitler/stalin = nobel peace prize winner. Second absurdity: cannot embrace tolerance as a superior value because it is no better than intolerance. Cultural relativism: so a society with ethic cleaning is equal those that don"t. If ethical relativism is correct, then we have no good reason to question our own deepest commitments [and then absurb]
