Relativist Explanations of Interpersonal and Group Disagreement

Some relativists might hold, in light of the pervasiveness of disagreement even within groups that largely agree on morality, that the truth - conditions for a moral judgment refer to the moral reasons and norms accepted by the individual speaker. Others might hold, in light of their conception of moralities as social constructions that help to structure human cooperative life, that the truth - conditions refer to the moral reasons and norms accepted by the speaker's group. A case is made here that choosing between speaker and speaker's group relativism is too simplistic a way to resolve the issue because there are several independent respects in which the truth - conditions of a moral judgment could be said to be speaker - or group - relative and some respects in which they are not so relative at all. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Duke Scholars

Author David B. Wong Philosophy