Two Types of Relativism (Pojman IP3 491a)
Ethical relativism = "the theory that there are no universally valid
moral principles"
Two types of ethical relativism:
- conventionalism = the theory "that moral principles are
[valid] relative to the culture or society"
- subjectivism = the theory moral principles are valid relative to
"individual choice"
("Valid" here doesn't mean "formally valid"
in the sense of a valid argument. What it does mean is unclear.
Perhaps by "valid for x," or "valid relative to x," Pojman means
something like "rationally binding on those who are in x." See IP3
496a.)
The opposite of ethical relativism is ethical universalism
(Pojman calls it "objectivism"), the view that there are (at
least some) universally valid moral principles.
Richard Lee,
rlee@uark.edu,
last modified: 14 September 2004
