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Re: A predisposition to relativism?
James wrote:
> I am very surprised that anyone would be a moral relativist after anything but the most cursory consideration.
So am I, and I think that might lead us to the root of the issue: a discussion at this stage in first year uni education takes places before the most cursory consideration! It astounds me too that they're willing to allow child rape and genocide as ok in some situations, but I've actually heard people say those words. Moreover I spoke to the first-year ethics lecturer and he said he expects most first-years to start off not just as relativists but also as naive subjectivists: "who are we to say what's right"; "isn't it arrogant to have an opinion?"; etc etc.
Is this to do with the education they get pre-university or the society that they're brought up in? Well, I think that secondary and further education rarely prepare students well for a discursive subject like philosophy. Even (shockingly) a philosophy A-Level seems to leave most unready for the real business of philosophizing. And I think in some A-Level/GCSE subjects students are almost taught that the right answer is "we don't know the answer", and from that they infer that "there is no answer". Obviously those are two very different statements and one doesn't necessarily lead to the other! Believing "there is no answer" makes them hostile (often) towards anyone who has a relatively firm belief in what the answer might be.
And I suppose a similar thing happens, to a greater extent, in wider society.
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