Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Terminology Tuesday: Subjectivism & Cultural Relativism

Subjectivism holds that moral statements convey information about the speaker of the moral statement. According to private subjectivism, "X is right" states the psychological fact that "I like X." This differs from emotivism. Emotivism holds that moral statements merely express feelings. Private subjectivism, however, holds that moral statements do not express feelings but describe the psychological state of the speaker. An expression of feeling cannot be false. But if person A says "I dislike x," then this can be false if A really likes x but does not want to admit it. Cultural relativism is the view that statements like "X is right" state the sociological fact that "We in our culture like x."1

1. William Lane Craig & J.P. Moreland, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), p. 400.

3 comments :

Tucker Lieberman said...

Is that really what the book said? Is this a direct quote or a paraphrase? Saying that something is "right" is equivalent to saying that you or your culture "dislike" it? Isn't it the other way around?

Brian said...

Tucker,

This is a direct quote - but I think there was a mistake. I have fixed it to read properly! Thanks for catching it.

Ex N1hilo said...

We, in my culture, like bacon.

Post a Comment

Thanks for taking the time to comment. By posting your comment you are agreeing to the comment policy.

Blog Archive

Amz