Should we be allowed to judge wether this is right or wrong, given that we have grown up in different cultures, with different customs and morals?

Furthermore, is one Ethic possible since there are so many culture, so many customs, and so many different religions and morals?

Has there ever been a situation where someone has acted according to their "moral responsibility" and done something that would by this society's standards be considered Unethical?

:-)

*this is fodder for my thesis paper, so type away!*

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"You say don't fear your dreams, it's easier than it seems.
You say you'd never let me fall, from hopes so high.
But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie." - Fiona Apple

Besides, as an on again/off again philosophy pseudomajor, I can ensure that you cannot have fun with ethics.

Also, I'm not sure this really needs to be in the Flameboard. Doesn't seem that inflammatory to me. Well, not yet anyway.

Ok, fine. Ethics. Well, let's look at it this way. Before we can address the issue of crosscultural ethics, we first need to decide whether there is anything for them to be concerned about. In other words, are there moral facts that can be classified as true? (Keep in mind that I'm not asking if there are universal moral facts. We'll get to that later.)

The answer to this question is usually, but not always, yes. The very existance of ethics as an area of study confirms our belief that it can be understood through inquiry. That is, there are indeed moral facts. I believe that X is wrong, and live my life accordingly. For me, the wrongness of X constitutes a fact. This belief may or may not be shared by the rest of my culture. For instance, in the United States, and indeed throughout the western world, killing a female member of your family because she has dishonored the family name is viewed as wrong. This value is not shared universally. But within our culture, such an action is wrong, and we agree about this enough to codify it in law.

Now then, the problem is that while I can believe that X is wrong, and that there is a moral fact that says that X is wrong, it does not logically follow that said fact is universal in application. Nor is it necessary for it to be so, at least from the viewpoint of an ethical relativist.

Of course, there is another angle to pursue. Namely, that there are no moral facts at all. Or at least that what we call morality is different for every person and hence useless as a tool to resolve conflicts in our everyday lives. What we know about human nature seems to disprove this idea. Everytime a child says that a punishment is unfair, they are appealing to a shared moral framework. (Of course, the fact that such an appeal doesn't work that often might be used to argue that there is no such universal ideal of fairness. A parent's idea is different from a child's, and so on.)

So, you tell me whether there can be shared moral facts or not and then we can move on.

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Dane

I beg to differ, but...

See, I told you he was chagrined, therefore my previous statement must be true. Check out the aforementioned thread for my clever description of the cultural relativism problem (which proves that it doesn't need solving because it is essentially an unstoppable natural process of the universe).

Frank, just go back to eating your Big Mac and reading WWF magazines and admit I'm right.

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Dane

You just said that because I disagree, you must be right. That's like saying you're immortal right after dying or something.

All you proved is that fads exist. I could have told you that. Meanwhile, the world has ~250 distinct nations. Even the US and Canada are different with regards to things like firearms. Actually, even the US states are very different...compare someone in New York to someone in Arkansas.

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In case you couldn't tell, I'm pulling Frank's chain here. Because it's fun. Also because I'm right about the inevitability of cultural amalgamation and he's wrong. Please don't ruin my fun and tell him. Thank you.

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Dane

cha�grin (sha-grin') noun
A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event: "To her chagrin, the party ended just as she arrived."

Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright � 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V., further reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved, so there.

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Dane

This, I think, is as close as you come to a universal ethic. And even then, you have varying definitions of "hurt" and "unnecessarily" and in some cases "other people."

For instance: Surgery hurts. But it can be necessary to prevent death (Christian Scientist claptrap notwithstanding). Therefore it is not wrong.

Punishment and discipline can hurt, but it is also necessary, in moderation. Therefore it is not wrong. This differs from beating, which is abusive overkill, and thusly wrong.

Smoking or consuming other hazardous materials alone, under controlled conditions, is harmful to the user, but not to anyone else. Therefore it is not wrong, simply stupid.

However, exposing other people to the potential of harm, say, by creating gouts of secondhand smoke, or driving while intoxicated, IS wrong.

Under most circumstances, harming killing another human being is wrong. This wrong is balanced, or negated, when the human being in question is seeking to harm or kill other human beings. (Logic surrounding such things as abortion is fuzzy here, and depends upon finding a working definition for 'human being.' I haven't done this yet.)

By the above logic, voluntary euthanasia is not wrong, as it is essentially self-harm intended to prevent a greater suffering. Nonconsensual euthanasia, however, would be wrong (unless previously specified as the desire of the individual in question.)

Okay, that's how I see it.

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

And I beg to differ, Sol... This IS fun, and CAN become inflammatory.

So far, none of you have gone in-depth with my questions, however.... i'm slightly disappointed. *L*

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"You say don't fear your dreams, it's easier than it seems.
You say you'd never let me fall, from hopes so high.
But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie." - Fiona Apple