The Case For Ethical Relativism By William G. Sumner

William Graham Sumner

THE CASE FOR ETHICAL RELATIVISM By William G. Sumner I .Definition of Origin of the Folkways -The first task of life is to live -Men begin with acts, not with thoughts -Need: first experience, and it was followed by a blundering effort to satisfy it -The ways of the beasts had produced channels of habit and predisposition along which dexterities and other psychophysical activities would run easily -In the absence of any experience of the relation of means to ends, efforts to satisfy needs are clumsy and blundering -Method: trial and failure Produces repeated pain, loss, and disappointment Also, a method of experiment and selection -Need: impelling force -Pleasure and pain: rude constraints Defined the line on which efforts must proceed -The ability to differentiate pleasure and pain is the only psychical power to be assumed -Along the course on which efforts were compelled to go, habit, routine, and skill were developed -Struggle to maintain existence was carried on in groups not in individuals.

"Folkways and Moral Relativism" I.

II.

The Origin of Morality - The Folkways (Anthropology): A. The Human Organism 1. Two survival mechanisms a. Instinct - automatic avoidance of threats (i.e., pain) b. Intelligence - manipulation and adaptation to environment (albeit unconscious) 2. The Rise of Folkways: Ancestor veneration (i.e., tradition) a. The Mythical Tradition b. The Anthropological Tradition 3. The Logic of Folkways: Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc. B. The Foundations of Social Interaction 1. Survival of the Community 2. "Knowledge" of the World a. Approximations to the truth b. Sufficient time for the development of traditions c. Abstractions or Generalizations from the traditions to the world 3. 'Mores' - Folkways plus philosophical abstractions The Consequences of the Origin of Morality: A. Ethnocentrism - The uncritical belief in the inherent superiority of one's own culture. 1. Religious - Christianity verses Paganism 2. Political - Democracy verses Communism 3. Economic - Capitalism verses Socialism B. Relativism - Since morality develops out of folkways which are relative to the environment/culture in which they arise, morality is relative to culture. C. Sociological Egoism - As groups we use morality to justify those goals which are in our interest regardless of the interest of others.