Section outline

  • lesson content

    Relativism
    ::相对论

    People develop their thinking concerning morality over time.  They do so as a result of interactions with individuals and social institutions.  In different societies each with their own cultures there are different ideas concerning how humans are to behave. Different societies and cultures have different rules, different mores , laws and moral ideas.
    ::人们随着时间推移而发展对道德的思维,他们之所以这样做,是因为他们与个人和社会机构的互动。 在不同的社会里,每个有自己文化的社会都有关于人类行为方式的不同想法。 不同的社会和文化有不同的规则、不同的传统、法律和道德观念。

    In the twentieth century people became quite aware of these differences. The impact of this information when coupled with the theories of the Existentialists and Pragmatists became quite significant in the realm of Ethics. The Existentialists with their theory of radical freedom and human choice and responsibility placed morality within the spher e of human decision-making. There were no essences before existence of beings and there would be no rules before the existence of the beings who would make the rules for themselves.  The Pragmatists also departed from belief in absolutes and generalizations and any universal criteria for judgment. For the P ragmatists reality itself was not a given but a human construct and reflective of the society’s criteria for judgment concerning truth. So, it came to pass as a part of Post Modernism that there would be a school or tradition of thought that would hold that all thinking about Ethics was also subject to human decision making within a social framework.  This school would hold that there are no universal or absolute principles in Ethics to which all humans are to be subject.
    ::在二十世纪,人们意识到了这些差异。这种信息的影响,加上活跃主义者和实用主义者的理论,在伦理领域变得相当重要。 活跃主义者及其激进自由、人类选择和责任的理论将道德置于人类决策的范畴。 在人类存在之前,没有任何本质,在为自己制定规则的人存在之前,没有规则。实用主义者也背离了对绝对性、普遍性和任何普遍判断标准的信念。对于实用主义者来说,现实本身不是给定的,而是人类的构思,反映了社会关于真理的判断标准。因此,作为“后现代主义”的一部分,人们逐渐认识到,关于道德的所有思想都要在社会框架内由人类来决定。这所学校将认定,在道德道德方面没有普遍或绝对的原则,所有人都必须遵守这些原则。

    Through the twentieth century many humans have come to accept a good deal of the relativistic perspective.  Relativism has entered into the thinking of many people, even people who would hold for some absolutist ideas.  Yes, there are people who hold inconsistent and contradictory ideas concerning morality and ethics.  How does this come to be?
    ::二十世纪以来,许多人已经接受了许多相对论的观点。 相对论已经进入了许多人的思维,甚至有些人会坚持某些绝对论的观点。 是的,有些人对道德和伦理持有不一致和相互矛盾的观点。 这如何出现呢?

    Terms to Know
    ::要知道的术语

    • Cultural relativism
      ::文化相对主义
    • Descriptive ethical relativism
      ::描述性伦理相对主义
    • Normative ethical relativism
      ::规范道德相对主义

    Cultural relativism describes the simple fact that there are different cultures and each has different ways of behaving, thinking and feeling as its members learn such from the previous generation. There is an enormous amount of evidence to confirm this claim.  It is well known by just about every human on the planet that people do things differently around the globe.  People dress differently, eat differently, speak different languages, sing different songs, have different music and dances and have many different customs.
    ::文化相对论描述了一个简单的事实,即存在不同的文化,每个文化都有不同的行为、思维和感受方式,因为其成员从前一代人那里学到了这样的知识。有大量的证据可以证实这一说法。 地球上的每一个人都知道,人们在世界各地做的事情是不同的。 人们穿不同的衣服,吃不同的,说不同的语言,唱不同的歌曲,有不同的音乐和舞蹈,有许多不同的习俗。

    Relativism
    ::相对论

    Descriptive ethical relativism -- fact that in different cultures one of the variants is the sense of morality: the mores, customs and ethical principles may all vary from one culture to another. There is a great deal of information available to confirm this as well.  What is thought to be moral in one country may be thought to be immoral and even made illegal in another country. This is a scientific theory well supported by the evidence gathered by cultural anthropologists.
    ::描述性的道德相对论 -- -- 事实上,在不同文化中,一种变异是道德感:不同文化之间,道德、习俗和伦理原则可能各有不同。也有大量信息可以证实这一点。在一个国家中,道德被认为是不道德的,甚至在另一个国家也是非法的。这是一个科学理论,得到了文化人类学家所收集证据的有力支持。

    lesson content

    Examples include
    ::实例包括:

    Moral in USA
    ::美国的道德

    Immoral in
    ::不道德、不道德、不道德、

    Eating Beef
    ::吃牛肉

    India
    ::印度 印度 印度

    Alcohol and Gambling
    ::酒精和赌博

    Middle Eastern Countries
    ::中东中东国家

    Women in school or business
    ::学校或商业界的妇女

    Afghanistan
    ::阿富汗 阿富汗

    Women wearing shorts, face uncovered
    ::妇女穿短裤,面露面

    Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan
    ::伊朗、沙特阿拉伯、苏丹

    Or just the opposite
    ::或正好相反

    Immoral in USA
    ::美国的不道德行为

    Moral or Acceptable
    ::道德或可接受

    Killing newborn females
    ::杀害新生儿女性

    China, India
    ::中国、印度

    Female genital mutilation
    ::残割女性生殖器官

    Many African Nations (female circumcision)
    ::许多非洲国家(女性割礼)

    Family kills a woman family member who has been raped
    ::家庭杀死一名被强奸的女家庭成员

    Somalia, Sudan
    ::索马里、苏丹

    Normative Ethical Relativism
    ::伦理相对论

    Normative ethical relativism is a theory, which claims that there are no universally valid moral principles. Normative ethical relativism theory says that the moral rightness and wrongness of actions varies from society to society and that there are no absolute universal moral standards binding on all men at all times.  The theory claims that all thinking about the basic principles of morality (Ethics) is always relative.  Each culture establishes the basic values and principles that serve as the foundation for morality.  The theory claims that this is the case now, has always been the case and will always be the case.
    ::规范性的道德相对论是一种理论,它声称没有普遍有效的道德原则; 规范性的道德相对论认为,各种行动的道德正确性和错误性因社会而异,没有绝对普遍的道德标准在任何时候都对所有人都具有约束力; 理论声称,所有关于道德基本原则(道德)的思考都是相对的; 每一种文化都确立了作为道德基础的基本价值观和原则; 理论认为,现在情况如此,一直如此,而且将永远如此。

    This is a philosophical theory that is not  well supported by the evidence gathered by cultural anthropologists, nor could science support a theory about the past and future!  It is a theory that has evidence against it.
    ::这是一个哲学理论,文化人类学家收集的证据不能很好地支持这一理论,科学也不能支持关于过去和未来的理论。 这是一个有证据反对这一理论的理论。

       Theory of Normative Relativism by  Thane Doss of CUNY, Hunter  
    ::CUNY的Thane Doss、Hunter的规范性相对论理论

    At any rate, the underpinning of all this is that I expect that we all have the capacity and even some degree of recognition that ethics and morality are social constructs*, and that therefore, it's not "morality" or "ethics" that one truly refers to in the about-to-shoot-someone situation. Generally, if you've got time to think about it, you already know the position of society on what you're about to do. If you're a soldier, your culture (or someone who hired you, if you're a mercenary) sent you there to shoot people, so you know you've got cultural backing.  If you're a criminal, you also know your position, and you've made some calculations based on likely personal gain, kicks, probability of getting caught, etc. There really are no moral questions at play.  If you're neither of these, it's likely that you're also not really free to sit down for long to mull things over, so you react and hope that your reaction fits within accepted norms of self-defense or defense of others as established by your culture. 
    ::无论如何,这一切的根基在于,我期望我们都有能力,甚至某种程度上认识到伦理和道德是社会结构*, 因此,它不是“道德”或“道德”, 一个人在近于射杀的某种情况下真正指的是“道德”。 一般来说, 如果你有时间去思考它, 你已经知道社会对于你将要做什么的看法。 如果你是士兵, 你的文化(或者雇用你的人,如果你是雇佣军)派你到那里去射杀人, 所以你知道自己得到了文化的支持。 如果你是罪犯,你也知道自己的立场, 而且你已经根据可能的个人利益做了一些计算, 踢球,被抓住的概率等等。 确实没有道德问题在起作用。 如果你不是这些, 你可能也没有真正自由的坐下来 做一些事情, 所以,你的反应和希望你的反应 符合被接受的自卫准则 或被你的文化所建立的他人的防御。

    What underlies things is calculation of gain and loss, though, not some greater thing to be named "morality." As an example, I don't believe that dueling was always illegal, though after a certain point in time it becomes so in most countries. Why would there have been a time when the situation of two hot-headed men (as far as I know, women weren't involved in duels, though it'd be a neat book if one could find some examples) choosing to try to murder one another would not have been illegal, as just a rotten thing to train the kids on and not a terribly good way to perpetuate the species? Well, if the alternative is getting all my buddies together to attack and try to kill all your buddies, then as far as the culture and the personal well-being of a bunch of individuals goes, saying "Hey, if you guys really want to risk your lives and the likelihood that those pistols are going to blow up in your own faces instead of firing accurately, go ahead and leave me out of it" makes a lot of sense.
    ::以“道德”为例,我并不认为决斗总是违法的,尽管在某个时间点之后,在大多数国家都变得如此。为什么两个热头男人的情况(据我所知,女性没有参与决斗,虽然如果能找到一些例子的话,这本书会很干净)选择试图相互谋杀并不是违法的,因为训练孩子去训练孩子的腐烂事,而不是使物种永久化的好办法?如果其他选择让所有我的朋友一起攻击并试图杀死你的朋友,那么,就文化和一群人的个人安康而言,“嘿,如果你们真的想冒着生命危险,而且那些手枪有可能在自己脸上爆炸而不是准确的射击,那么,请先离开我,就很有意义了。”

    But in time, there is enough rule of law about to, at least often, prevent the whole "My buddies and I are going to kill you and your buddies" thing in the first place, so allowing the duel is no longer a measure to keep all the buddies alive, and it can be declared illegal as a rotten way to bring your kids up, etc. Same action--different times, different "moralities" [i.e. cultural considerations].
    ::但随着时间的推移,法律规则已经足够了,至少经常地防止 “我和我的兄弟们,我要杀了你和你的兄弟们”的事情发生, 所以让决斗不再是让所有兄弟们活着的措施, 也可以被宣布为非法, 这是一种让孩子长大的腐烂方式,等等。同样的行动-不同时代, 不同的“道德”[即文化考量]。

    Second, shorter example--it would be horrible--"immoral"--to knowingly kill an innocent man, wouldn't it?  But there are anthropological reports of the incredibly effective deterrence obtained by tribes that understood that if a member of tribe A killed a member of tribe B, some member of tribe A—any member except the killer--would be killed by tribe B. Every member of both tribes has a direct investment in keeping any member of his/her tribe from killing anyone in another tribe, because any member could find him/herself to be the payback for the killing. There's not much killing around as a result. As far as getting the results that people generally agree upon as desirable goes, this is far preferable from our capital punishment system, which makes killing more attractive to those already to dispose to murder and gives everyone else an incentive to just stay out of the way. You may have to kill an innocent every now and then as a result of this approach to justice, but you have to choose your basis for what you're going to call morality--is it better to have less murder overall, but kill an innocent every now and then, or is it better to have more murder overall and only kill the guilty? (This is, of course, the argument that the pro-capital punishment people make, too, but they don't look at the statistics and psychological studies to check their assumptions about capital punishment as a deterrent.)
    ::其次,更短的例子会是可怕的——“不道德”—— 故意杀害无辜者是可怕的——“不道德的”—— 这样做不是么?但是,有关于部落获得令人难以置信的有效威慑的人类学报告表明,如果部落A的成员杀害了部落B的成员,部落A的一些成员——除杀人者之外的任何成员——会被部落B杀害。两个部落的每一个成员都直接投资,不让其部落的任何成员在另一个部落杀害任何人,因为任何成员都可以发现他/她自己是杀人的回报。没有太多的杀人结果。从获得人们一般同意的结果来看,从我们死刑惩罚制度来看,这是更可取的,因为死刑制度使那些已经处理谋杀的人更有吸引力,并且使其他人有动力离开这条道路。你现在和随后都要杀死一个无辜的人,而作为这种正义方法的结果,你必须选择你所说的道德基础,因为任何成员都能找到什么作为惩罚的回报。

    There really is no good or evil, only what is human, and apparently among the things that is human is a tendency to create abstractions and treat them as if they are concrete, when a bit of analysis really would show that the meanings of those abstractions change considerably with time and place. As long as this recognition of change is present, this is a very useful sort of behavior--one might compare it to scientific modeling. 
    ::事实上,没有好或坏,只有人类才有,显然,在人类的事物中,有一种倾向是创造抽象概念,把它们当做是具体的东西来对待,而一些分析确实会显示这些抽象概念的含义随着时间和地点的变化而发生相当大的变化。只要这种对变化的认识存在,这是一种非常有用的行为,可以把它与科学模型作比较。

    Rohit mentioned a million dogs a year being killed as an example a while back, apparently expecting a purely emotional response. I prefer cats myself, but have nothing really against dogs. Of course, I have nothing against cows, either. But millions are killed yearly in this country, and yes, I do eat some of them. I feel some guilt. I feel some guilt when I kill a cockroach, though. But the universe was not designed so that I could absorb energy directly from a star. Even if I didn't eat animals, plants would have to die to keep me going. It is unfortunate that life depends on things dying, but it does. That is neither good nor evil, though. We don't call the cheetah evil for killing an antelope--we call it a cheetah. 
    ::罗赫特提到每年有一百万只狗被杀,这是很久以前的一个例子,显然期望得到纯粹的情感反应。我更喜欢猫自己,但是没有真正反对狗。当然,我对牛也没有什么反对。但是,每年有数百万头狗被杀,但这个国家每年有数百万头狗被杀,我吃其中一部分。我感到内疚。我杀死一只蟑螂时感到内疚。但是,宇宙的设计并不是为了让我直接吸收一颗恒星的能量。即使我不吃动物,植物也必须死才能让我继续生存下去。很不幸,生命取决于死亡,但确实如此。这既不是好事,也不是坏事。我们不把猎豹的邪恶称为杀死蚂蚁的猎豹——我们称之为猎豹。

    People have more reasoning power, and indeed, they should apply their reasoning to their killing, but to say that applying this thing called "morality" to killing is reasoning is quite questionable.  At best, it's like a small-angle approximation.
    ::人们拥有更多的推理能力,而且事实上,他们应该运用他们的推理来进行杀戮,但是,如果说将这种叫作“道德”的东西用于杀戮是相当有疑问的推理。 充其量,它就像一个小圆形近似。

    In most cases, going with what you call morality will keep you safely within the range of cultural acceptance for your specific time and place. But that's all that it really reflects--the cultural understandings that formed it.
    ::在大多数情况下,你所谓的道德 将保证你的安全 在文化接受范围内 特定的时间和地点。但这就是它真正反映的, 形成它的文化理解。

    lesson content

    EPISD Critical Knowledge and Creative Thinking Goal
    ::EPISD 关键知识和创造性思维目标

    Why do people come to believe the normative ethical relativism?  Consider four reasons that may account for the phenomenon.   
    ::为什么人们会相信规范性的道德相对论? 考虑造成这一现象的4个原因。

    Normative Ethical Relativism
    ::伦理相对论

      Factors contributing to the popularity of the theory of Normative Ethical Relativism
    ::促使规范伦理相对论理论受到欢迎的因素

    1. It is obvious that moral rules and laws vary from country to country. Many people believe that laws that exist for other people in other countries should not apply to within their own country. Traditions and customs are different around the world: what is wrong in one place might be right in the other. So to some people it is true that there should not be a universal moral standard binding on all men at all times.
      ::显然,道德规则和法律因国而异。 许多人认为其他国家为其他人制定的法律不应适用于他们自己的国家。 传统和习俗在世界各地是不同的:一个地方的错误可能是对的。 因此,对一些人来说,确实不应该有对所有人始终有约束力的普遍道德标准。
    2. The decline of religion in the Western Hemisphere and in advanced technological societies. As Nietzsche and Dostoevsky have noted, if God is dead, then all is permitted .
      ::西半球和先进技术社会宗教的衰落,正如尼采和多斯托耶夫斯基所指出的,如果上帝死了,那么一切都是允许的。
    3. Increased sensitivity to peoples of different cultures and the need to avoid the evils of ethnocenticism. The desire to be tolerant and to appreciate the values and beauty of a multi-cultural world.
      ::对不同文化的各国人民越来越敏感,需要避免种族中心主义的邪恶,渴望容忍,欣赏多文化世界的价值观和美貌。
    4. The failure for most people to think that there could be a third alternative to moral absolutism (associated with religion) and cultural relativism. Consider the question: Are all moral duties binding on all people at all times or are moral duties relative to culture? Few can think of a third alternative to these two choices.  Finding absolutism untenable many simply accept the relativist position. 
      ::多数人认为除了道德上的绝对主义(与宗教有关)和文化相对主义之外还有第三种选择。 想想这个问题:所有的道德义务在任何时候都对所有人都具有约束力吗? 还是与文化有关的道德义务? 很少有人能想到这两种选择的第三个选择。 找到绝对主义是站不住脚的,许多人只是接受了相对主义的立场。

    Philosophers have been attempting for centuries to develop that third alternative.
    ::数世纪以来,哲学家一直试图开发第三种选择。

    Socrates could not accept the mythopoetic thought of his time as the basis for morality and neither could he accept the relativism of Thrasymachus and other Sophists who taught and proclaimed that might makes right and accident makes might. The Sophists believed that each society makes its own rules and there are no universal rules, no gods ruling overall and making rules.
    ::苏格拉底不能接受将他的时间作为道德基础的神话主义思想,也不能接受Thrasymachus和其他教授并宣称可能实现正义和事故创造力量的索菲主义者的相对论。 苏格拉底相信每个社会都有自己的规则,没有普遍的规则,没有主宰整体和制定规则的神明。

    This theory has become a very popular part of postmodern times. It is a theory that manifests its influences in many parts of the culture. The theme of tolerance and appreciation for other cultures and the inappropriateness of applying one standard from one culture to actions in another culture is in evidence in the arts and in politics.
    ::这一理论已成为后现代时代非常受欢迎的一部分,它表现了它在文化的许多部分的影响。 容忍和欣赏其他文化的主题,以及从一种文化到另一种文化的行动采用一种标准是不恰当的,在艺术和政治中都证明了这一点。

    Example
    ::示例示例示例示例

    Shortly after Bill  Clinton was first elected to the office of President of the United States there was an election of a school board in a Florida county. The majority of the school board were members of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political action group. The school board voted that all public schools in the county would teach in all grades, as part of social studies, that the United States has a culture superior to that of many others. This was to be supported by the claims that the United States held the values of freedom and equality most high, was a democracy and provided for the welfare of many in need and a number of other claims.  Both President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, criticized the school board for their intolerance. They stated  that the U.S. does not have a superior culture but that all cultures are equally valued and are to be equally respected. These proclamations are affirmations of doctrines of the postmodern movement and are part of the set of "politically correct" ideas currently popular. Nine months after this event a young citizen of the United States was arrested in Singapore for acts of vandalism.  Michael Fay confessed and was tried and found guilty and sentenced to a canning. At that time many people in the USA were very upset with this situation. President Clinton wrote a letter to the president of Singapore and requested that the sentence be changed. President Clinton wrote that the act of caning was barbaric. The president of Singapore was offended by the letter and upheld the custom and laws of that land.  How could President Clinton declare another countries practices or any countries practices as being barbaric if he believed that all cultures are equally praise worthy? The President was being inconsistent .  He also criticized the people of Chin a , the government, for their barbaric practices with regard to political and religious dissidents.  When he later ordered the bombing in Bosnia and one of the planes bombed the Chinese embassy, several nations, including the Chinese, called that act one of barbarism.
    ::比尔·克林顿首次当选美国总统后不久,比尔·克林顿首次当选美国总统一职后不久,在佛罗里达州选举了一个学校董事会;学校董事会多数成员是基督教联盟(保守的政治行动小组)的成员;学校董事会投票认为,作为社会研究的一部分,郡内所有公立学校将在各个年级进行教学,认为美国的文化优于许多其他学校的文化;这应当得到以下说法的支持:美国拥有自由与平等的价值观,是一个民主,为许多需要的人的不达标做法和其他一些说法提供了一种不达标的货币。克林顿总统和他的妻子希拉里都批评学校董事会的不容忍做法。他们表示,美国没有优越的文化,但所有文化都同样受到重视和受到同等的尊重。这些公告是对后现代运动理论的肯定,是目前流行的“政治正确”思想的一部分。这次事件后九个月,中国一位年轻的公民在新加坡因破坏行为而被捕。迈克尔·法伊(Michael Fayry)及其妻子希拉里批评学校董事会的不宽容做法。他们都批评说,学校董事会批评了他们的不宽容做法。他们指出,美国并没有优越的文化,但是所有文化都受到同样的重视,而且应该受到同样的尊重。当时,许多总统的言语。

    Three years after the criticism of the Florida school board action, Hillary Clinton attended an international conference on women in China.  She represented the USA.  At that time she condemned the treatment of women in  China and India and a number of other countries and used harsh language in doing so. How was she able to do that if she believed that all cultures are equal in value and no one can judge another?  She too was being inconsistent.
    ::在对佛罗里达州学校董事会行动提出批评三年后,希拉里·克林顿出席了中国妇女问题国际会议,她代表美国出席,当时她谴责中国和印度以及其他一些国家的妇女所受的待遇,并使用严厉语言这样做。如果她认为所有文化都具有同等价值,没有人能够评判其他文化,她怎么能这样做呢?她也是前后矛盾的。

    So, Normative Ethical Relativism is part of the cultural milieu .  It is evidenced in the thinking of many and yet at the same time many of those who espouse or accept this theory hold opposing views as well.
    ::因此,规范性的道德相对论是文化环境的一部分。 许多支持或接受这一理论的人也持有相反的观点,他们中的许多人的思维也证明了这一点。

    There are several problems and criticisms of the theory of normative ethical relativism.
    ::对规范性道德相对论理论有若干问题和批评。

    1. According to the theory there are no universal moral criteria , there can be no absolutes not even that of tolerance. Therefore the supporters of this theory cannot promote the theory with the claim that its acceptance will support tolerance for peoples of other cultures because tolerance is not necessarily a good thing. It is only a good thing in those cultures where it is promoted. It cannot be promoted for all peoples. If people are raised in a culture where it is thought to be a good thing to be intolerant , then that is what people should be. There have been and there are cultures in which people are raised to believe that they have a superior culture and a right to use and abuse other people. So for that group of people tolerance is not a good thing. Normative ethical relativism cannot be used to promote tolerance. It is a poorly thought out and confused notion of tolerance that leads to the theory of Normative Ethical Relativism.
      ::根据理论,没有普遍的道德标准,甚至没有容忍的绝对标准,因此,这一理论的支持者不能促进理论,声称接受这一理论将支持对其他文化民族的容忍,因为容忍不一定是一件好事;在提倡容忍的文化中,这仅仅是一件好事;不能促进所有民族的道德标准;如果人们在认为容忍是一件好事的文化中成长,那么这就是人们应该成为的东西;曾经有和有文化培养人们相信他们有优越的文化,有权使用和虐待其他人。因此,对于这一群体来说,宽容不是一件好事;规范的道德相对主义不能用来促进容忍;它是一种思想贫乏和混乱的容忍概念,导致规范的伦理相对主义理论。
    2. According to the theory of Normative Ethical Relativism each culture has its own ideas about ethics and morality.  In each culture the predominant view is correct because it is the predominant view. There are no principles that could override or take precedence over the predominant view. Thus there can be no criticism of the moral views held by the majority of people in a given society by any minority. This is so because the minority must always be wrong by virtue of the fact that it is the minority view. The Theory of Normative Ethical Relativism cannot support or explain criticisms of the majority’s views by minorities. Yet there have been such criticisms and many have led to moral reforms. Such reform cannot be accounted for by the theory.
      ::根据规范性伦理相对论理论,每种文化都有自己的伦理道德观念。在每一种文化中,主导观点是正确的,因为它是主导观点。没有任何原则可以压倒或优先于主导观点。因此,任何少数群体都不能批评某一社会中大多数人持有的道德观点。这是因为少数派必须总是错误地认为它是少数派的观点。规范性伦理相对论的理论不能支持或解释少数群体对多数派观点的批评。然而,也有这样的批评和许多人导致了道德改革。 这种改革不能被理论所解释。
    3. If the theory applies to peoples of different cultures because they are raised in different social environments then it applies as well to any peoples raised apart from other peoples. So it would apply within a culture and within a society wherever there are isolated groups. Indeed the theory eventually supports a subjectivism in which each person raised differently from others must make his or her own moral rules and those rules are equal in value and importance as any other set of rules. In this application of the theory of Normative Ethical Relativism no one has the right to make moral judgments about another person, for each person has the right to have his or her own morals.
      ::如果理论适用于不同文化的民族,因为它们是在不同的社会环境中成长的,那么它也适用于与其它民族不同的民族;因此,它适用于文化和社会,只要有孤立的群体;事实上,理论最终支持一种主观主义,在这种主观主义中,每个人的成长与他人不同,都必须制定自己的道德规则,这些规则在价值和重要性上与任何其他一套规则相同;在适用规范性伦理相对主义理论时,没有人有权对另一个人作出道德判断,因为每个人都有权拥有自己的道德。
    4. The Theory of Normative Ethical Relativism runs counter to our ordinary experiences and concept of morality. Even people who claim that they believe that the Theory of Normative Ethical Relativism are correct to make moral judgments concerning the practices of people in other cultures. For example, they do condemn female infanticide and genital mutilation and a number of other practices, even practices that go back many centuries. It appears quite evident that there are certain acts which ordinary people simply regard as being morally wrong no matter who is committing them.
      ::规范性伦理相对论的理论与我们通常的经验和道德概念背道而驰,甚至有人声称他们相信规范性伦理相对论是对其他文化中人们的习俗作出道德判断是正确的,例如,他们谴责杀害女婴和切割生殖器官以及其他许多习俗,甚至许多世纪以来的习俗,似乎相当明显,某些行为是普通人仅仅认为道德错误的,而不管是谁犯下这些行为。
    5. Although there may be variations among the various cultures on this planet that does not mean that there are no points of agreement or that there are no fundamental set of ethical principles that could be common to all. Take for example the rather basic principle that there is a right to life and so killing is wrong. Now there may be societies that permit the killing of a cheating spouse or of unwanted children at birth. Still despite the differences there may be a common principle to the effect that an unjustified killing is wrong. Then societies have differences over what constitutes the justification for the deliberate termination of a life but not over the basic rule that killing is morally wrong.
      ::尽管这个星球上的各种文化之间可能存在差异,但这并不意味着没有一致点,也不意味着没有一套根本的伦理原则可以为所有人所共有。举例来说,存在生命权的相当基本的原则,因此杀人是错误的。现在也许有社会允许杀害作弊的配偶或出生时不想要的孩子。尽管存在差异,但有一个共同的原则,大意是无理的杀人是错误的。然后,社会在什么是故意结束生命的正当理由方面有分歧,而不是在杀人在道德上是错误的基本规则方面有分歧。
    6. The fact that societies differ concerning their views of morality and the principles upon which morality rests does not mean that there is no possibility of there being a concept of the good that all humans could come to recognize and accept. There is some support that it is the brain as the basis for morality.
      ::社会对于道德和道德赖以立足的原则的观点存在分歧,这一事实并不意味着不可能存在所有人都能认识和接受的善观概念。 一些人支持将大脑作为道德的基础。

    Read
    ::已读

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    EPISD Informed Problem Solvers Goal
    ::EPISD 信息化解决问题者目标

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    Philosophy Application
    ::哲学应用

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    EPISD Critical Knowledge and Creative Thinking Goal
    ::EPISD 关键知识和创造性思维目标

    Vocabulary
    ::词汇表

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    EPISD Effective Bilingual Education Goal
    ::EPISD 有效双语教育目标