A Survey of Moral Relativism from the Perspective of Allameh Tabatabaei

Moral relativism does not acknowledge any universal moral principle and regards ethics as subject to the cultural purposes and changing circumstances. Allameh Tabatabaei reviews and critiques an account of moral relativism in Al-Mizan. The question this paper addresses is the way Tabatabaei critiques moral relativism. The paper surveys the three types of fallacy elaborated by Tabatabaei to reject relativists’ claim: 1. Fallacy of confusion between moral principle and matters of fact; 2. Fallacy of confusion between generalization and continued existence; 3. Fallacy of confusion between objective and hypothetical. Also, it seems that Tabatabaei’s stand in critiquing moral relativists, is moral intuitionism which is based on the innate disposition. This Intuitionism is confirmed, interpreted and elaborated by reason and religion.