?Meta-Ethical? Position Essay, Research Paper
My ‘Meta-ethical’ Position
When asked the question “Are there any ethical truths?” I respond with a resounding “Yes” and when asked “What makes the ethical truths true?” I respond “Facts independent of anyone’s say-so”. That makes me an ethical realist. I reject all forms of conventionalism and also subjectivism.
There are three different forms of conventionalism, the first is Divine Command Theory which says thing are right or wrong based solely on God’s say-so. While I do believe in God I reject that ethical view because who is to say what God says are believes is right or wrong? How are humans to know which God’s belief’s to follow and how to interpet them? The only thing that the Divine Command Theory is saying is that things are wrong according to God’s say-so not why they are right or wrong, therefore there is no really reason. The second view is ethical relativism, that is the view that right or wrong is determined based on society’s beliefs. With that view people’s behavior is based on society and therefore everyone should always conform to society’s norms. I believe that society be and is often wrong which causes me to reject ethical relativism. How can a Chinese society that represses free speech be wrong and those that stand up and fight for their right to speak freely be wrong? They are not they have the right to say that the society they live in is morally wrong. The third version is existentialism, which is the idea that right and wrong is solely up to the individual. The idea that because Mr. X believes rape is right so therefore it is morally right for him when he rapes Ms. Y is wrong. What about Ms. Y’s views she believes rape is wrong, so how can the same action be right for him but wrong for her? It can not rape is wrong no matter what your opinion is because facts about right and wrong are indenpent of any say-so.
Subjectivism is the idea that there no ethical facts that ethical statements are not saying what “is” the case only what “ought” to be the case. However I reject this because facts coexist as different part of reality. Therefore just because something is not the case does not mean that it is still not right or wrong. Just because rape does happen does not stop it from being wrong.
Consider the situation of female genital mutilation it occurs often to little girls over in the Middle East and Africa. They have parts of their genital removed often with dirty tools and no drugs. The people in the region use the Divine Command Theory and say that God says to do it, they use ethical relativism and say that society says to do it, existentialism and leave it up to the individual, or subjectivism it just is. How can any of those be right? The answer is they can not women are suffering from long-term physiological, sexual, and psychological effects due to the practice. I believe that female genital mutilation is wrong and that is not based on anyone’s say-so it just is.
In conclusion, there are ethical facts in the real world and those facts just are. While it is true people do disagree on what is right on wrong that does not change the rightness or wrongness of an action.