According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy site, moral relativism is defined as the view that moral judgements are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others. On the Helpful Professor site, it is explained that what you consider to be moral depends entirely on who you are and the cultural context where you were raised.
You may be still confused about it and you need some examples of moral relativism. If so, you are able to read some examples of moral relativism in everyday life below according to the Helpful Professor site.
Tardiness
Let’s say that Nick and Tony are good friends. Nick knows that Tony is always late whenever they make plans to do something. Nick also thinks that it is wrong that Tony is a tardy person. Meanwhile, Tony does not think much about it and even he thinks that Nick is too sensitive. From the perspective of moral relativism, Tony’s behavior is wrong, but we will not say that it is wrong in an objective sense.
Veganism
There are some people who live a vegan lifestyle. They do it because they think that eating animals is wrong because animals are sentient creatures that can experience pleasure and pain. However, most people in the world do not view this thing like that so that they consume meat happily and they do not have moral objection to it because they do not believe that causing pain to animals is a moral issue.
So, we can say that veganism is one of the examples of moral relativism because depending on the stance of a person, something is very fine or very immoral. For this thing, it is hard to find an objective moral absolute. Based on their fundamental belief system, they can decide whether it is moral or not.
Conspicuous Consumption
In capitalist societies, they see that conspicuous consumption or extreme spending on expensive and luxurious items is a sign of wealth and status. However, in other societies, it is seen as self-adulation and arrogance.
There are some philosophers who have an opinion that conspicuous consumption is morally wrong and even abhorrent because there are a lot of people around the world who are in need.
Peter Singer is a philosopher and he is known for his views about animal rights and Utilitarians. He states that when we ourselves are in a position to help someone in need, even if helping the person needs to sacrifice ourselves, it means that we face a moral obligation to do it. However, in moral relativism, we only have a moral obligation if we think that we have it so that if you do not feel morally obliged, you do not have a moral obligation for doing it.
Unfairness in Nature
If you look at animals, you see that there are a lot of things which are confronting. One of the confronting things is that wolves hunt down weak deer. There are even animals that eat their own young children. As a human, we may see that there are a lot of things that happen in nature that are morally objectionable. However, if we look at nature, we do not see it as something immoral, but we see it as the circle of life. So, here, moral relativism is applied. In the context of humans, if we look at someone who harms others, it is immoral. However, if we look at animals with the same situation where an animal harms another animal, we do not see it as immoral.
Bringing Back The Shopping Cart
Some people think that if they bring back the shopping cart to its proper place after they shop, it is a common courtesy. However, some other people may think that leaving the cart wherever they want after they shop is okay.
For people who always bring back the shopping cart to its proper place after shopping, they may think that when they bring back the shopping cart, it is a small inconvenience, but it can benefit other shoppers and store workers. However, for people who do not bring back the shopping cart, they may think that it is the responsibility of the supermarket workers for doing it.
Being Responsible
Let’s take an example of a situation first. There is a good friend that you have not met in a while and then he or she invited you over for dinner. You would go there if you were in the mood, but you are not in the mood for going to the dinner so that you decide to stay at home instead.
In a friendship with other people, usually, accountability or responsibility or being reliable is something important. In this case, people who believe in the importance of being responsible and staying true to their word will decide to go to the dinner because that’s what they said and they are friends with the person they have had plans with. If they do not go, they may think that they are inconsiderate. However, for people who decide not to go just because they are not in the mood, they may think that it is okay because they have a right for doing it.
Avoiding Tax
Avoiding tax is not technically illegal, but there are a lot of people who do not like it. People who engage in it have an opinion that they are standing up against the moral outrage of being taxed too much.
There are people who believe that we live in a society and we have to be honest and in good faith pay taxes for what we have. They think that if they make more money, it means that they need to contribute more back to society.
However, for some other people, they look at the government as the people who are engaging in morally outrageous behaviour. People who are on this side may say that how dare they take 40% of their income every week, whereas they could use the money to help their family. So, these people do the things to avoid tax such as creating offshore bank accounts, hiring accountants to find legal loopholes so that they are able to keep more of their money and many more.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
