SSH 105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Moral Relativism, Critical Thinking, Relativism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Course: SSH 105
• Professor: David Hunter

Document Summary

For the realist, truth is simply (cid:498)out there. (cid:499) that subject matter. Critical thinking is: reasonable reflective thinking aimed at deciding what to believe and what to do: deciding what to believe involves reasoning about what the facts are. It can help us attain knowledge: knowledge is also justified, true belief. Argument from disagreement (for moral relativism) (i) there is considerable sincere disagreement about morality. (ii) if there is considerable sincere disagreement about morality, then moral relativism is true. (iii) so moral relativism is true. A belief is justified if it is based or grounded in good reasons. Different kinds of reasons pragmatic: emotional: epistemic (a. k. a evidence): critical thinking requires that our beliefs be based on sufficient and acceptable evidence. Two bits of evidence are in direct conflict when one indicates that something is true and the other indicates that it is false. If one piece is stronger than the other, then the first overrides the second.