Ethical relativism
Ethical relativism is supported by the disagreement about what is right and wrong because of personal and social ethical relativism and the natural law theory. Ethical relativism can be defined as a theory that holds that there are no universally accepted moral standards. In other words there is no objective right or wrong. Personal ethical relativism basically says that different people have different moral beliefs. Social ethical relativism says that different societies have different moral beliefs. The natural law theory suggests that there is a universal set of moral beliefs, which contradicts ethical relativism, but it is flawed. Individual or personal ethical relativism, also known as descriptive ethical relativism, states that "ethical judgments and beliefs are the expressions of the moral outlook and attitudes of individual persons". (MacKinnon) Every person has their own personalized set of moral values
Social or cultural ethical relativism, also known as normative ethical relativism, states that "ethical values vary from society to society and that the basis for moral judgments lies in these social or cultural views". If any one of the previous views were to be judged as right or wrong, a system of moral standards would have to be put into place. The interpretations of natural law vary throughout the ages and between philosophers. The disagreement on what is right or wrong according to individual people, different cultures and the interpretations of natural law supports the theory of ethical relativism. For example, the United States as a nation does not accept nudity. If any one of the previous beliefs were to be practiced outside of their society the other society would think them to be overly conservative or risque. But based again on natural law it is considered to be unacceptable. Therefore, any one of those beliefs may be right or wrong. Although the beliefs within each society are accepted, they may not be in others. In most of the European countries nudity does not present a problem. In either case none of the countries would be considered right or wrong because the re is no universal set of moral standards. It is a prescriptive law that tells us how we ought to live and behave based on certain aspects of nature. Someone else may not believe in having sex before marriage, or even maybe not at all.
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