The Relationship Between Ethical Relativism And Ethical Absolutism

Who decides what is ethical and what is moral? There are no standards of conduct that everyone in the world agrees upon. There are different religions, cultures and ethnicities in this world and because of that; there will most likely never be a day where everyone finds everything that someone else does to be ethical or moral. Since there can never be a universal standard for morality and ethical behavior for people everywhere, we must stop judging people by looking through the lenses of our culture or society . We must judge someone and his actions by the standards of his culture or society. An action one person considers being justifiable behavior may not be the same case for someone else. When cultures and religions cross paths that do

While ethical relativism states that a person must respect another person’s culture and behaviors according to the behavior and customs that are considered moral according to that society when the action happens in that society. Ethical absolutism declares that there are certain actions that everyone in any society considers unethical. Regardless of the context of certain action or the society where it is happens, certain actions remain as equally immoral if the action occurs in America or if the action occurs in a small island in the Pacific Ocean according to ethical absolutism. Ethical absolutism is proclaiming that there is a universal ethic which involves everyone regardless of the culture or society. Ethical relativism makes an attempt to understand the behaviors in other cultures or societies without judging the action by the standards of an incompatible society where the action does not happen. Ethical absolutism does not undertake the same strategy as ethical relativism, there is no room for understanding behaviors in other cultures because once it is seen as wrong then it will almost be wrong no matter the explanation behind the

That person does not look at different culture or societies because he trusts that there are certain moral principles that apply to everyone, everywhere, all the time. An absolutist passes judgment on everyone without understanding other perspectives because there are no other perspectives except the one that the absolutist is convinced by. Practicing ethical absolutism would mean a person would never change his view once it is established. If someone is sinful in one place then it is sinful everywhere. For instance, the controversial topic of abortion, some people view abortion as immoral while others do not. According to an ethical absolutist, there will be no controversy surrounding abortion because it would be deemed virtuous or vile and that would be the end of that