0:00:00.000,0:00:02.726 >[Bernard Walker, instructor][br]Now in the last PowerPoint, 0:00:02.726,0:00:06.824 I asked you to answer [br]two questions on your own. 0:00:06.824,0:00:10.067 And I'm really concerned [br]about the first question: 0:00:10.067,0:00:12.215 What makes an action [br]be right or wrong? 0:00:12.215,0:00:14.579 I'm not really interested [br]in the second question, 0:00:14.579,0:00:17.799 but when students answer [br]the first question, 0:00:17.799,0:00:22.120 they often give an answer [br]that is adequate or appropriate 0:00:22.120,0:00:23.268 for the second question, 0:00:23.268,0:00:25.721 which is: Where do you [br]get your beliefs from? 0:00:25.721,0:00:28.066 The focus of this PowerPoint 0:00:28.066,0:00:31.547 will look at mainly [br]the first question, 0:00:31.547,0:00:33.602 but look at the second question as well 0:00:33.602,0:00:37.587 and point out or to reiterate 0:00:37.587,0:00:42.912 that ethics is basically based [br]on what you do to someone 0:00:42.912,0:00:44.400 or how you affect someone, 0:00:44.400,0:00:48.949 and it's not based on a [br]mere belief that you may have. 0:00:48.949,0:00:54.312 And the position or the view [br]that holds that latter claim 0:00:54.312,0:00:56.623 is called cultural relativism. 0:00:56.623,0:00:58.573 I will discuss it in this PowerPoint, 0:00:58.573,0:01:04.201 but critique it in the third [br]PowerPoint after this one. 0:01:04.726,0:01:11.250 Let's take a look at four examples 0:01:11.250,0:01:15.071 that will illustrate [br]the distinction between 0:01:15.071,0:01:18.741 what makes something [br]be right or wrong 0:01:18.741,0:01:22.985 and the mere belief where [br]you get your beliefs from. 0:01:26.639,0:01:27.870 To make the point again, 0:01:27.870,0:01:30.991 let's look at the two questions [br]from the previous PowerPoint: 0:01:30.991,0:01:38.300 What makes a belief true, [br]or what makes an action be true? 0:01:38.300,0:01:40.602 And where do you get beliefs from? 0:01:42.054,0:01:44.731 You see these two questions [br]on the far left. 0:01:44.731,0:01:48.502 Let's consider four examples. 0:01:48.502,0:01:53.967 The first one: “Oatmeal reduces [br]your overall cholesterol level.” 0:01:53.967,0:01:59.975 We can ask: Where did you get [br]the belief that that's true? 0:01:59.975,0:02:04.289 There are many answers you can give.[br](You could perhaps say your doctor.) 0:02:04.289,0:02:06.749 But what makes the belief true 0:02:06.749,0:02:12.387 is that oatmeal actually does [br]reduce cholesterol in your body. 0:02:12.387,0:02:17.247 The truth of that belief, [br]what makes it be true, 0:02:17.247,0:02:22.545 is what oatmeal does in the world, 0:02:22.545,0:02:30.903 not your belief but what [br]oatmeal does to your body. 0:02:31.489,0:02:34.749 The second example, suppose it's true: 0:02:34.749,0:02:39.805 "Sometimes Hmong patients [br]refuse surgery and blood draws." 0:02:40.270,0:02:44.912 If we were to ask the question: [br]Where did you get this belief from? 0:02:44.912,0:02:48.431 supposing it is true, [br]you can give many answers, 0:02:48.431,0:02:53.711 and one would be that you have [br]a Hmong friend who told you this. 0:02:53.711,0:02:55.493 What makes the belief true 0:02:55.493,0:03:01.494 is simply that this is what [br]Hmong people sometimes do. 0:03:01.494,0:03:06.983 The belief is made true by what [br]Hmong people do or do not do 0:03:06.983,0:03:10.378 in a hospital or medical clinic. 0:03:10.378,0:03:17.979 The third example says: "The best way [br]to lose weight is diet, not exercise." 0:03:17.979,0:03:20.546 Let's suppose that statement is true. 0:03:20.546,0:03:26.374 We can ask: Where did you [br]get this particular belief from? 0:03:26.374,0:03:27.462 Why do you believe it? 0:03:27.462,0:03:29.360 Basically, that's the question. 0:03:29.360,0:03:31.524 Again, many answers could be given. 0:03:31.524,0:03:37.977 You could say you came to this belief [br]from what you read in the magazine 0:03:38.722,0:03:44.637 or from what a dietitian [br]told you about certain diets. 0:03:44.637,0:03:46.619 But what makes the belief true 0:03:46.619,0:03:53.640 is what a diet does to you [br]in terms of you losing weight. 0:03:53.640,0:03:58.660 So the truth of the belief [br]is not based on you 0:03:58.660,0:04:02.238 or based on your dietitian or a magazine. 0:04:02.238,0:04:10.542 What makes the belief true is simply[br]the effect the diet has on your body, 0:04:10.542,0:04:13.063 something that is happening in the world. 0:04:13.063,0:04:15.490 In this case, [br]it's not something you're doing; 0:04:15.490,0:04:21.240 it's something that the food that [br]you're digesting does to your body. 0:04:21.240,0:04:25.769 So these first three examples [br]are definitely evidence-based, 0:04:25.769,0:04:30.621 meaning that they are true [br]and you discover they are true 0:04:30.621,0:04:37.205 by evidence of things [br]that they do in the world. 0:04:37.205,0:04:41.306 Now the fourth example [br]is quite different. 0:04:41.306,0:04:46.570 It says that it's true that you [br]cannot run with a basketball 0:04:46.570,0:04:49.702 when you play basketball. 0:04:49.702,0:04:54.802 If the question were posed:[br]Where did you get this belief from? 0:04:54.802,0:04:57.853 Again, any number of [br]answers could be given. 0:04:57.853,0:05:04.319 You can say your high school or middle [br]school gym teacher told you this 0:05:04.319,0:05:08.943 or your neighborhood friends [br]at the park or your parents. 0:05:08.943,0:05:14.811 All kinds of answers could be given [br]as to where you got this belief from. 0:05:14.811,0:05:22.184 But to the question, "What makes it[br]be true?" would be a simple answer. 0:05:22.184,0:05:29.350 The inventor of basketball, [br]who is Dr. James Naismith. 0:05:29.350,0:05:34.821 So the reason why it's true [br]that you cannot run with a basketball, 0:05:34.821,0:05:36.894 what makes that belief true, 0:05:36.894,0:05:41.035 unlike the other three [br]examples on this slide here, 0:05:41.035,0:05:47.081 are not events in the world, [br]but internal to Dr. Naismith, 0:05:47.081,0:05:51.619 his beliefs about how the game [br]of basketball should be played. 0:05:53.257,0:05:57.452 So this last example actually [br]is not evidence-based 0:05:57.452,0:06:03.953 because it's stating something[br]true about a person's belief, 0:06:03.953,0:06:09.456 namely what this man, [br]Dr. James Naismith believes 0:06:09.456,0:06:13.644 about how his game that he [br]invented should be played. 0:06:13.644,0:06:20.046 However, oatmeal is not in a person's[br]mind and neither is cholesterol. 0:06:20.046,0:06:24.804 The interaction between those two [br]things are outside of your mind; 0:06:24.804,0:06:29.354 and whether or not oatmeal reduces [br]cholesterol has everything to do 0:06:29.354,0:06:32.886 with the interaction between [br]oatmeal and cholesterol. 0:06:32.886,0:06:36.395 The same thing would be true[br]about Hmong patients. 0:06:36.395,0:06:39.077 What makes it true [br]that they refuse surgery 0:06:39.077,0:06:41.645 is, in fact, that they refuse surgery. 0:06:42.372,0:06:50.966 What makes a diet-- what causes [br]a diet to make you lose weight 0:06:50.966,0:06:54.397 is simply the effect [br]a diet has on your body. 0:06:54.397,0:07:04.863 But with basketball, what makes [br]it wrong to run with a basketball 0:07:04.863,0:07:09.229 is not something about the world, 0:07:09.229,0:07:16.659 because before Dr. James Naismith [br]was born or invented the game, 0:07:16.659,0:07:19.143 there was nothing called basketball. 0:07:19.143,0:07:26.175 What makes it wrong to run [br]with the ball is simply he said so 0:07:26.175,0:07:29.392 because the truth of that statement 0:07:29.392,0:07:34.058 is based in his mind, [br]Dr. James Naismith. 0:07:34.581,0:07:38.401 The truth of what oatmeal [br]does to cholesterol 0:07:38.401,0:07:43.645 is not in a person's mind [br]but in its effect on your body. 0:07:43.645,0:07:46.518 Again, the same thing with [br]blood draws with Hmong patients 0:07:46.518,0:07:49.725 and diets and losing weight. 0:07:49.725,0:07:51.989 The point overall [br]that I want to make here 0:07:51.989,0:07:57.418 is that with ethics, it is evidence-based [br]like the first three examples here, 0:07:57.418,0:08:00.455 not like the last example [br]with basketball. 0:08:00.455,0:08:05.414 What makes murder be wrong [br]or what makes rape be wrong 0:08:05.414,0:08:12.908 is not your belief, not my belief, [br]not the beliefs of a culture or a society. 0:08:12.908,0:08:15.104 What makes murder or rape be wrong 0:08:15.104,0:08:22.128 is what you do to someone [br]that describes rape or murder. 0:08:22.128,0:08:26.550 It's what you do to another person [br]that makes those actions wrong. 0:08:26.550,0:08:30.236 Rape is wrong because [br]you are causing harm 0:08:30.236,0:08:35.756 (physical, psychological, emotional, [br]or spiritual) to another person. 0:08:35.756,0:08:40.463 So you may say that rape is wrong,[br]and that would be true, 0:08:40.463,0:08:43.826 but what makes it be wrong [br]is not your belief about rape, 0:08:43.826,0:08:47.575 but what rape actually [br]does to another person. 0:08:47.575,0:08:50.065 Again, ethics is about what you do, 0:08:50.065,0:08:56.730 and you could discover the evidence [br]for what people do to other persons 0:08:56.730,0:08:59.801 by looking at events in the world. 0:08:59.801,0:09:04.480 Like science, medicine, in general, [br]ethics is evidence-based. 0:09:06.655,0:09:09.607 So when we say ethics [br]is evidence-based, 0:09:09.607,0:09:12.639 we're looking for evidence of events, 0:09:12.639,0:09:16.678 of things you do to[br]other persons or things. 0:09:16.678,0:09:21.688 So back to Question 1 [br]in the previous PowerPoint, 0:09:21.688,0:09:32.237 if you said society, culture, family, [br]personal perspective, feelings, religion, 0:09:32.237,0:09:36.924 these would not be good [br]coherent answers to Question 1, 0:09:36.924,0:09:42.282 and the rest of this PowerPoint will [br]attempt to show you that that's the case. 0:09:42.282,0:09:45.262 Let me give one example [br]with family and religion. 0:09:46.235,0:09:51.306 How did your family make [br]an action be right or wrong? 0:09:51.306,0:09:53.776 I'm not sure what answer could be given. 0:09:53.776,0:09:58.784 Your family could tell you or inform [br]you that an action is right or wrong, 0:09:58.784,0:10:02.156 but it couldn't make [br]an action be right or wrong. 0:10:02.156,0:10:04.315 Or consider religion. 0:10:04.315,0:10:08.062 A religion can inform you [br](say, through the Bible) 0:10:08.062,0:10:10.414 that an action is wrong, 0:10:10.414,0:10:13.404 say that it's wrong to murder someone. 0:10:13.404,0:10:17.884 But surely the Bible does [br]not make murder be wrong; 0:10:17.884,0:10:23.744 it simply informs you that it is [br]the case that murder is wrong. 0:10:23.744,0:10:27.601 The most popular answer [br]people give to Question 1 0:10:27.601,0:10:33.602 is the top of this list here: [br]culture or society, 0:10:33.602,0:10:37.894 which I will use interchangeably. 0:10:37.894,0:10:40.474 And it also is like religion. 0:10:40.474,0:10:47.231 Cultures and society cannot [br]make murder be right or wrong. 0:10:47.231,0:10:50.792 Those are just not good answers [br]to Question number 1. 0:10:52.863,0:10:56.333 Among those answers [br]that I just talked about, 0:10:56.333,0:11:00.140 culture turns out to be [br]the most popular answer 0:11:00.140,0:11:02.011 that people give to Question 1. 0:11:03.010,0:11:06.153 Let's focus our attention on culture 0:11:06.153,0:11:11.009 as we try to figure out what makes [br]ethics be what it is, what it's about. 0:11:11.009,0:11:16.241 And I don't want to beat this [br]into the ground with you, 0:11:16.241,0:11:19.178 but it's important[br]that you really get this point. 0:11:19.178,0:11:22.002 Going back to Questions 1 and 2, 0:11:22.002,0:11:25.963 there is a big difference between, [br]if we're talking culture, 0:11:25.963,0:11:28.976 saying a culture makes [br]an action right or wrong 0:11:28.976,0:11:35.935 and saying that a culture informs you [br]that an action is right or wrong. 0:11:35.935,0:11:41.836 So let's look at another example [br]of this distinction between 1 and 2 0:11:41.836,0:11:44.172 as we focus on the issue of culture. 0:11:46.497,0:11:51.561 On this slide here, Statement number I 0:11:51.561,0:11:56.608 is answering Question number 2 [br]from the previous PowerPoint. 0:11:56.608,0:11:58.550 That is, it’s answering the question: 0:11:58.550,0:12:02.288 Where do you get [br]your ethical beliefs from? 0:12:02.288,0:12:07.976 How do you come to believe what you [br]believe about murder, rape, so forth? 0:12:07.976,0:12:11.007 And Statement number 2 below 0:12:11.007,0:12:14.761 is answering Question 1 [br]from the PowerPoint: 0:12:14.761,0:12:17.071 What makes an action right or wrong? 0:12:17.071,0:12:19.264 Let's take a look here. 0:12:19.264,0:12:22.248 Here, number 1, it says: 0:12:22.248,0:12:26.831 "My cultural upbringing taught [br]that murder and rape are wrong, 0:12:26.831,0:12:29.849 and that people should[br]be treated fairly." 0:12:29.849,0:12:34.620 This is a very good answer to the question[br]"Where do you get your beliefs from?" 0:12:34.620,0:12:37.014 In this case, [br]since we're talking about culture, 0:12:37.014,0:12:43.109 you can say culture informed you [br]that murder and rape are wrong. 0:12:43.109,0:12:45.981 But now let's look at [br]the second statement here. 0:12:45.981,0:12:50.034 “My cultural upbringing makes[br]murder and rape be wrong.” 0:12:50.034,0:12:53.456 It makes treating people fairly, right." 0:12:53.456,0:12:56.896 Now, the second statement [br]is rather incoherent. 0:12:56.896,0:12:59.820 It's quite problematic. 0:12:59.820,0:13:02.606 What would it mean [br]to say that your culture 0:13:02.606,0:13:06.356 makes murder be right or wrong? 0:13:06.356,0:13:08.495 It's just not informative. 0:13:08.495,0:13:14.594 The first statement here is that culture [br]teaches you what's right or wrong, 0:13:14.594,0:13:19.033 but it would not make any sense to say [br]that your culture has a magic ability 0:13:19.033,0:13:24.506 to make murder be right or wrong [br]or [rape] be right or wrong. 0:13:26.663,0:13:29.708 Another example about culture: 0:13:29.708,0:13:34.265 When the Rosebud Sioux Tribe [br]says it is ethically wrong 0:13:34.265,0:13:39.122 to build the Keystone XL [br]pipeline on its reservation, 0:13:39.122,0:13:43.514 it is not saying Number 1 here, 0:13:43.514,0:13:47.876 namely, “it is ethically wrong [br]for the Keystone XL pipeline 0:13:47.876,0:13:51.049 to be built on the Rosebud [br][Sioux] Tribe’s reservation 0:13:51.049,0:13:53.579 because we believe it's ethically wrong.” 0:13:54.267,0:13:58.926 That statement is simply saying it's wrong,[br]merely because that's what they believe. 0:13:58.926,0:14:03.161 Again, that's sort of like [br]the example of basketball. 0:14:03.161,0:14:05.182 What makes it wrong to run with the ball 0:14:05.182,0:14:10.758 is simply what Dr. James Naismith believed [br]about how the game should be played. 0:14:11.478,0:14:13.605 We don't want to say that about ethics. 0:14:13.605,0:14:17.382 Rather, the second statement [br]is more likely 0:14:17.382,0:14:20.720 what a representative of [br]the Sioux Tribe would say, 0:14:20.720,0:14:22.645 namely that it's ethically wrong 0:14:22.645,0:14:27.067 for the pipeline to be built [br]on the reservation 0:14:27.067,0:14:33.565 because doing so will cause [br]harm to the people there, 0:14:33.565,0:14:39.950 and they could even add [br]“to cause problems with sacred ground.” 0:14:42.465,0:14:50.203 Despite all of this, some of you [br]might be getting a little irritated 0:14:50.203,0:14:52.437 and say something like the following: 0:14:53.060,0:14:58.371 Why is culture not a good answer [br]for making actions be right or wrong? 0:14:58.371,0:15:01.685 Who are we to say culture is wrong? 0:15:01.685,0:15:07.231 That is, isn't it a bit arrogant to say[br]that another culture is wrong 0:15:07.231,0:15:09.502 if they disagree with us? 0:15:09.502,0:15:14.008 The short answer here is not about[br]disagreeing with you or anyone else 0:15:14.008,0:15:17.897 as it is that no one makes [br]any action right or wrong. 0:15:17.897,0:15:22.496 It's again, what you do in the world. 0:15:22.496,0:15:27.419 So even if your belief is correct [br]about murder being wrong, 0:15:27.419,0:15:29.574 your belief is not what [br]makes murder wrong; 0:15:29.574,0:15:32.087 it's what someone is [br]doing to another person 0:15:32.087,0:15:34.998 when an act like murder occurs. 0:15:37.606,0:15:43.831 Let me try to finally [br]summarize this point 0:15:43.831,0:15:45.997 by simply making a distinction 0:15:45.997,0:15:49.261 between what culture [br]really addresses, 0:15:49.261,0:15:51.876 and it's not going to be ethics. 0:15:51.876,0:15:54.710 But what is the focus of culture? 0:15:54.710,0:15:59.670 This requires us to make [br]some definition distinctions. 0:16:01.600,0:16:05.869 So if we were to focus [br]only on culture now. 0:16:05.869,0:16:07.600 and in doing so, you will see 0:16:07.600,0:16:11.039 that it really would be [br]unrelated to ethics, 0:16:11.039,0:16:13.004 but let's first define culture. 0:16:14.136,0:16:17.815 I'm looking here at the free dictionary. 0:16:17.815,0:16:21.268 Here's the definition [br]found in a dictionary. 0:16:21.268,0:16:24.768 It says culture is the integrated system 0:16:24.768,0:16:29.330 of socially acquired values, [br]beliefs, and rules of conduct 0:16:29.330,0:16:34.667 which delimit the range of accepted [br]behaviors in any given society. 0:16:34.667,0:16:39.534 So if you want to know [br]what culture you belong to, 0:16:39.534,0:16:45.451 there's a set of socially set values 0:16:45.451,0:16:49.066 (values being things that are [br]important to a group of people), 0:16:49.066,0:16:53.776 a set of beliefs that those [br]people identify with, 0:16:53.776,0:16:57.368 and a certain way of behaving. 0:16:57.368,0:17:03.153 If you value these things, [br]believe these beliefs, 0:17:03.153,0:17:09.469 and act a certain way within a certain [br]range that that group has decided, 0:17:09.469,0:17:12.656 then you're part of that group. 0:17:12.656,0:17:15.791 And that's basically what a culture is. 0:17:15.791,0:17:22.802 It includes things like what food is [br]identified with a particular culture, 0:17:22.802,0:17:27.735 clothes, greetings, things of that sort. 0:17:27.735,0:17:33.677 If you don't adopt these values,[br]these beliefs, and ways of behaving, 0:17:33.677,0:17:36.014 that doesn't mean you're [br]doing anything wrong. 0:17:36.014,0:17:40.436 You're just not identified [br]with that particular culture. 0:17:40.436,0:17:42.421 This is the definition of culture. 0:17:42.421,0:17:44.520 Let's take a look at [br]some examples here. 0:17:44.520,0:17:53.635 Let's consider customs [br]within cultures like weddings. 0:17:53.635,0:17:55.407 In the United States, 0:17:55.407,0:18:01.338 a typical wedding time-wise[br]is about 45 minutes to an hour. 0:18:02.326,0:18:06.276 In India, it lasts several days. 0:18:06.276,0:18:11.982 Neither time the culture of India [br]or the United States is right or wrong. 0:18:11.982,0:18:16.147 This is because customs and [br]cultures are not true or false. 0:18:16.147,0:18:19.164 We just don't use words like true or false 0:18:19.164,0:18:22.995 or even correct or incorrect[br]or wrong or right. 0:18:22.995,0:18:28.873 It's not wrong to have a wedding [br]45 minutes or several days. 0:18:28.873,0:18:35.224 These are just different ways that different[br]cultures perform wedding ceremonies. 0:18:38.038,0:18:42.288 But what they do is not based on [br]anything out there in the world. 0:18:42.288,0:18:43.891 They just simply made a decision 0:18:43.891,0:18:47.518 that a wedding will be [br](in the case of the United States) 0:18:47.518,0:18:49.800 45 minutes to an hour; 0:18:49.800,0:18:52.740 and in India, over several days. 0:18:55.715,0:19:01.482 Let's shift from weddings to clothing,[br]another custom within cultures. 0:19:01.482,0:19:03.587 The clothes from the 1970s 0:19:03.587,0:19:08.702 is definitely not what most people on [br]planet Earth wear in the 21st century, 0:19:08.702,0:19:09.885 but that's okay. 0:19:09.885,0:19:12.473 There's nothing wrong [br]about wearing leisure suits, 0:19:12.473,0:19:15.966 which is what these models are wearing. 0:19:15.966,0:19:19.726 The culture of the 1970s had [br]a preference for leisure suits, 0:19:19.726,0:19:25.879 but it was neither right nor wrong [br]for them having this preference. 0:19:25.879,0:19:30.208 Leisure suits were simply [br]the taste at that time. 0:19:30.208,0:19:32.072 Here's an important point. 0:19:32.072,0:19:36.364 Tastes of any sort are [br]not true, they're not false; 0:19:36.364,0:19:38.267 they're not right, they're not wrong. 0:19:38.267,0:19:41.501 They do change over time, however. 0:19:41.501,0:19:43.955 We know this [br]because more than likely, 0:19:43.955,0:19:48.662 none of you have a taste or [br]preference for a leisure suit. 0:19:50.147,0:19:56.795 Here's another instance of clothing [br]as a custom of a culture. 0:19:56.795,0:19:59.517 This is, of course, the 1980s. 0:19:59.517,0:20:04.186 The cheesy '80s clothes [br]displayed above in these photos 0:20:04.186,0:20:09.433 is not better, more correct [br]than the clothes of the 1970s. 0:20:11.255,0:20:19.799 The big hairdo and the pastel colors [br]are the essence of the 1980s. 0:20:19.799,0:20:23.139 If you're from that time, [br]you would recognize that. 0:20:24.073,0:20:27.702 With that said, they are simply [br]different ways of wearing clothes, 0:20:27.702,0:20:32.996 the clothes you that you see [br]these people are wearing, 0:20:32.996,0:20:36.305 these actors and actresses. 0:20:36.932,0:20:41.982 And these clothes simply [br]express the various tastes 0:20:41.982,0:20:44.995 that people had at that time. 0:20:44.995,0:20:48.141 These tastes are not true, [br]they're not false. 0:20:48.141,0:20:52.155 We could, if not use the word “taste,”[br]we could say "preference." 0:20:52.155,0:20:56.196 But preferences and tastes [br]are not true, they're not false. 0:20:56.196,0:20:58.502 They're not right, they're not wrong. 0:20:58.502,0:21:02.025 They're just what we had in the 1980s 0:21:02.025,0:21:08.136 and we no longer have a taste or a[br]preference for these kinds of clothes. 0:21:08.136,0:21:09.550 The clothes haven't changed. 0:21:09.550,0:21:12.029 What has changed is our taste for them. 0:21:14.811,0:21:19.253 Here's a final example of clothing[br]within various cultures. 0:21:19.253,0:21:21.046 What you see on the left 0:21:21.046,0:21:26.910 would be what's best [br]described as hipster culture, 0:21:26.910,0:21:31.260 and what's on the right would [br]be best described as hip-hop. 0:21:31.260,0:21:34.895 These are just different [br]ways of wearing clothes, 0:21:34.895,0:21:38.901 reflecting different tastes in clothes. 0:21:38.901,0:21:45.360 Again, these clothes are neither [br]right nor wrong, true or false. 0:21:45.360,0:21:51.324 They are simply expressing [br]the taste that people living today 0:21:51.324,0:21:54.346 (as opposed in the 1980s and ‘70s) 0:21:54.346,0:22:02.011 have about what looks good [br]to wear in the streets. 0:22:02.991,0:22:07.997 So it would be incorrect to say[br]that the clothes that the hipsters wear 0:22:07.997,0:22:14.690 is more correct, better than what [br]people wore in the ‘70s or ‘80s 0:22:14.690,0:22:20.942 or what hip-hop wears in distinction[br]from what hipsters wear. 0:22:20.942,0:22:26.134 These are just two different ways [br]of how people prefer to wear clothes. 0:22:26.134,0:22:29.847 There's nothing right or wrong [br]about any of these examples. 0:22:29.847,0:22:33.080 That's because they simply are [br]expressing tastes and preferences 0:22:33.080,0:22:35.911 that people have within a culture. 0:22:35.911,0:22:37.227 On a side note here, 0:22:37.227,0:22:43.537 if you do wear your pants [br]as low as the hip hop culture does, 0:22:43.537,0:22:50.216 over a period of time, [br]your spinal— your skeletal system, 0:22:50.216,0:22:57.221 I should say your backbone will be [br]elongated as this illustration shows. 0:22:57.221,0:22:59.338 (That's a little comedy there for you.) 0:23:00.832,0:23:03.825 Our last example here is about greetings. 0:23:03.825,0:23:08.660 In some parts of the world [br](in Asia, in particular), people bow. 0:23:08.660,0:23:11.007 There's nothing right[br]or wrong about bowing, 0:23:11.007,0:23:16.042 but that's just what people [br]in Asia have decided to do 0:23:16.042,0:23:19.071 when they express greeting someone. 0:23:19.071,0:23:20.746 They have various levels of bowing 0:23:20.746,0:23:23.757 based on the respect they [br]have for the other person. 0:23:23.757,0:23:26.459 Again, that's just what they do. 0:23:26.459,0:23:28.923 There's no right way about greeting, 0:23:28.923,0:23:33.964 but that's what they chose in their [br]culture as a way of greeting people. 0:23:33.964,0:23:36.435 In other cultures [br](like in the United States), 0:23:36.435,0:23:38.757 people shake hands. 0:23:38.757,0:23:41.922 That's the way of greeting people [br]in this country in particular. 0:23:41.922,0:23:45.920 There's nothing right or [br]wrong about shaking hands. 0:23:46.753,0:23:51.348 But it's interesting here, [br]whether you bow or shake hands, 0:23:51.348,0:23:56.913 you could do both and there's nothing [br]ethically wrong or right about either one, 0:23:56.913,0:24:02.994 just different preferences or different [br]conduct behavior, I should say, 0:24:02.994,0:24:08.202 that people adopted that identify [br]them within a given culture. 0:24:08.202,0:24:11.322 And ethics is not that way. 0:24:11.322,0:24:17.894 It's not about what we believe we [br]should do for some arbitrary reason 0:24:17.894,0:24:19.563 that we just made that decision, 0:24:19.563,0:24:23.394 like inventing a sport [br]or a game like chess. 0:24:23.394,0:24:26.194 It's about what we do in the world 0:24:26.194,0:24:32.410 in terms of the consequences of our [br]action and behavior toward others. 0:24:32.410,0:24:37.297 That's what ethics is going to be about[br]in a large sense, in a broad sense. 0:24:37.297,0:24:41.426 It won't be based on our [br]mere beliefs about the world, 0:24:41.426,0:24:44.131 but in fact, what we do [br]out there in the world 0:24:44.131,0:24:46.894 toward others and other living beings. 0:24:48.926,0:24:54.179 Now I have tried in several ways [br]to describe what culture is 0:24:54.179,0:24:56.661 and indirectly make the claim 0:24:56.661,0:25:02.142 that culture and ethics are not [br]related in any significant way. 0:25:02.142,0:25:09.159 But with that said, there [br]are those people in society 0:25:09.159,0:25:15.439 who believe that culture [br]is the foundation of ethics, 0:25:15.439,0:25:20.382 and this view is called [br]cultural or ethical relativism. 0:25:20.382,0:25:22.313 Okay, so I'm going to let you know now 0:25:22.313,0:25:28.934 that this is a view that I will be [br]critiquing as we move along. 0:25:28.934,0:25:32.484 It really holds no place in ethics, 0:25:32.484,0:25:36.070 but it's very common, [br]as I've been trying to point out. 0:25:36.070,0:25:41.869 Cultural relativism has two premises, [br]I guess you could say. 0:25:41.869,0:25:44.183 One is that not only is it true 0:25:44.183,0:25:49.527 that ethical beliefs vary[br]from culture to culture, 0:25:49.527,0:25:53.012 such that there's a set of [br]ethical beliefs for each culture, 0:25:53.012,0:25:57.430 but each culture’s set of beliefs [br]is normative and true. 0:25:59.233,0:26:00.988 Okay, so let's unpack that. 0:26:00.988,0:26:04.923 The first claim is not controversial. 0:26:04.923,0:26:10.728 That is, if you go to a given culture[br]in some country somewhere, 0:26:10.728,0:26:18.207 that the ethical beliefs of that [br]culture would be likely different 0:26:18.207,0:26:21.950 from the ethical beliefs [br]of another culture 0:26:21.950,0:26:24.143 in another country somewhere. 0:26:24.143,0:26:26.516 So this is not radical. 0:26:26.516,0:26:30.227 This is not a mysterious [br]or problematic claim. 0:26:30.227,0:26:34.105 In fact, we have a name for Number I, 0:26:34.105,0:26:37.791 and that's what we call [br]descriptive relativism. 0:26:37.791,0:26:41.893 Descriptive relativism basically says 0:26:41.893,0:26:45.995 that if you go to a culture [br]or investigate a culture 0:26:45.995,0:26:50.162 as an anthropologist or as a sociologist, 0:26:50.162,0:26:57.576 you would discover that various[br]cultures have different beliefs, 0:26:57.576,0:27:03.739 whether they be ethical beliefs or [br]beliefs about any number of issues, okay? 0:27:04.850,0:27:11.112 So the person who proposes[br]descriptive relativism 0:27:11.112,0:27:14.516 is simply, as the phrase is stated here, 0:27:14.516,0:27:20.584 simply describing the relativism [br]that exists among different cultures. 0:27:20.584,0:27:21.576 Okay? 0:27:21.576,0:27:26.757 So if an anthropologist or a sociologist[br]said something like this: 0:27:26.757,0:27:30.382 “In culture X, they believe in honor killing, 0:27:30.382,0:27:35.158 where the family could [br]stone to death their daughter. 0:27:35.158,0:27:38.652 That's just what they believe in culture X. 0:27:38.652,0:27:42.246 But culture Y has a [br]totally different view 0:27:42.246,0:27:47.173 that says people should not be killed [br]because they dishonor the family.” 0:27:48.010,0:27:51.405 The person who reports this information 0:27:51.405,0:27:55.156 is not taking a side or a position. 0:27:55.156,0:27:58.840 They're simply describing [br]two different viewpoints 0:27:58.840,0:28:01.574 about, say, marriage, 0:28:01.574,0:28:09.081 where one believes that the daughter [br]should marry who the parents have selected; 0:28:09.081,0:28:13.513 and in another culture, [br]they don't hold that same view. 0:28:13.513,0:28:19.030 So descriptive relativism does not [br]favor a certain ethical position. 0:28:19.030,0:28:22.057 It simply describes the variation 0:28:22.057,0:28:26.487 that is out there in the world [br]among different cultures. 0:28:26.487,0:28:30.106 So that's the first premise [br]of cultural relativism, 0:28:30.106,0:28:34.204 which is that there are [br]various beliefs in the world 0:28:34.204,0:28:37.957 that are held by various cultures. 0:28:37.957,0:28:41.050 Ethical beliefs vary[br]from culture to culture. 0:28:41.050,0:28:43.844 That is, again, not problematic. 0:28:43.844,0:28:47.540 Premise number 2 is [br]where we have problems. 0:28:47.540,0:28:54.251 Here, cultural relativism says[br]that each culture's ethical beliefs 0:28:54.251,0:28:57.932 are normative and true, 0:28:57.932,0:29:00.737 meaning [that] this is [br]how things out to be done 0:29:00.737,0:29:06.170 and these beliefs are true [br]within the context of that culture. 0:29:06.170,0:29:12.703 That's like saying that if Hitler believed [br]that Aryans were the superior race, 0:29:12.703,0:29:15.488 that would be true within his culture, 0:29:15.488,0:29:17.891 meaning, not because they just believe it, 0:29:17.891,0:29:26.576 but it's actually true that Aryans are [br]the superior race within that culture. 0:29:26.576,0:29:27.548 Okay? 0:29:27.548,0:29:30.500 So Premise number 2 [br]is what's problematic. 0:29:30.500,0:29:37.485 It is making a claim that not only [br]do beliefs vary from culture to culture, 0:29:37.485,0:29:42.264 but these beliefs are actually true [br]and they have a normative status, 0:29:42.264,0:29:48.825 meaning that you should honor and [br]be bounded to them or obey them. 0:29:48.825,0:29:50.260 Okay? 0:29:50.260,0:29:53.074 Descriptive relativism, again,[br]does not make that claim. 0:29:53.074,0:29:57.448 It just simply says that ethical [br]beliefs vary from place to place. 0:29:58.710,0:30:04.604 Cultural relativism says [br]the mere belief of a claim 0:30:04.604,0:30:07.010 is what makes it be true. 0:30:07.010,0:30:09.649 It is not considered true; 0:30:09.649,0:30:14.582 it actually is true within [br]that particular culture. 0:30:14.582,0:30:19.520 Cultural relativism is problematic. [br]Descriptive relativism isn't. 0:30:21.329,0:30:26.488 So in conclusion, what I've tried to do here 0:30:26.488,0:30:33.616 is point out that cultures consist of [br]normative beliefs, values, and actions 0:30:33.616,0:30:35.287 that are neither true nor false, 0:30:35.287,0:30:38.448 meaning there's a certain expectation 0:30:38.448,0:30:42.327 of how you ought to [br]believe within a culture, 0:30:42.327,0:30:45.612 how you ought to see things. 0:30:45.612,0:30:47.899 There's a certain way [br]that you ought to value, 0:30:47.899,0:30:50.365 there are certain values you ought to have, 0:30:50.365,0:30:53.299 and there are certain things [br]you ought to do within a culture 0:30:53.299,0:30:58.273 that are neither true nor false, [br]via things like customs, for example. 0:30:58.651,0:31:00.482 Ethics, on the other hand, 0:31:00.482,0:31:05.984 consists of beliefs, values, [br]and actions that are objective 0:31:05.984,0:31:10.149 and involve things about [br]what we do to each other, 0:31:10.149,0:31:12.355 things we do in the real world, 0:31:12.355,0:31:14.436 and they are true, 0:31:14.436,0:31:19.659 regardless of the culture [br]that they are expressed in. 0:31:19.659,0:31:22.667 The culture does not determine ethics. 0:31:22.667,0:31:26.147 But there is a view [br]that denies what I just said, 0:31:26.147,0:31:28.387 and this is called cultural relativism, 0:31:28.387,0:31:32.817 and we will destruct and [br]critique cultural relativism 0:31:32.817,0:31:34.941 in the next PowerPoint.