Ethical Non-Objectivism: Cultural Relativism and Ethical Subjectivism

Cultural relativism and ethical subjectivism are two theories that are against ethical objectivism. In this essay, James Rachels shows that cultural relativism is based on invalid argument; that the consequences of taking it seriously are irrational; that it exaggerates moral disagreement. Yet he holds that we can learn lessons from it. Next, he presents and criticizes two versions of ethical subjectivism; the first version (simple personalism) is rejected by him, because it denies the facts of humen fallibility and moral disagreement. The second version (emotivism) is regarded incomplete, because it can not explain the role of reason and argumentation in ethics. He shows that argumentation and reasoning in ethics is possible and favourable, and because of this, ethics is objective, not subject to personal taste or cultural assumptions of cultural assumption of one special society.