Moral Relativism Essay

In society is it generally been accepted that rules are needed to be able to function properly in our everyday lives. Laws are created to create civilized societies, without which society would begin to crumble. There are many views on how a good society should be and many theories put in place. Rachels’ provides us two separate theories that demonstrate two different ways we place rules on the society.

Firstly, Rachels’ presents Relativism, one of the oldest philosophical theories about morality. It states that right and wrong depend on each individual’s society. This theory highlights that moral relativism is the belief that there are no absolute moral truths. This teaches us that what may be true for one individual may not necessarily

For example, one culture may consider virginity, freedom and religion highly valuable, and can be considered irrelevant or even wrong in another. Other things in society such as practicing female circumcision are moral and in another societies could be wrong, when faced with the idea of genital mutation. In certain societies the beating of a wife when she steps out of culturally ascribed roles is not seen as immoral but to others such acts would often result in punishments. So this demonstrates that what is considered right or wrong is dependent on the society that builds those

However, if you mother is a bad, deceptive, lying and controlling person, who beats you this idea of your mother probably will change and love becomes removed. In such a scenario it may still be presented as a divine command to love your mother but it may not be good for you. It further questions what people may believe God wants, for someone with a psychological disorder, he may claim that God commanded him to rape another person, this would mean that rape in this scenario would be moral because he is ‘doing what God commands’. Others would however disagree and question how could God ever command such a