Describe the differences between cultural ethical relativism and subjective ethical relativism It goes without saying that a lot of factors should be taken into account while speaking about ethic. Some of them are cultural inheritance and customs of a nation, type of society and its development as well as technological and political changes inside a society and in the world. It is for sure that changes of any kind influence greatly the manner of behavior of a man; and determine a persons attitude towards reality. From the point of view of relativism the individual determines what is true. From a lot of points of view an individual chooses that one that he or she believes to be true. It proves that truth is different for different people. Relativism is based on three main rules.
They say that what is right for one person may not be whats right for another; whats right for one culture wont necessarily be whats right for another; moral principles are changing for all people at all times and in all places. Having examined these rules, it becomes clear that there are no moral absolutes, no moral right or wrong. Ethnic principles mutate and people mutate ethically as the culture, knowledge, and technology change in society. For last decades great changes in information technologies have influenced humans consciousness greatly. And with the development of computer science there is the need in computer ethic. But how should certain rules be worked out? Should individual demands or demands of a culture be taken into account? First of all it is necessary to point that there are several concepts of ethical relativism, the theory that the truth about what is right and what is wrong is different for different people.
The Essay on Moral Society God Religion People
Belief in a God is necessary for a moral society Religion in the world has always been considered a rather important aspect of society. Although this is true, there are still people that question the existence of God. A survey done among 1000 people showed that 65 percent of Americans believe that religion is losing its influence on American life (Sheler, 8). Even so, Belief in a God is necessary ...
Two of them are cultural ethical relativism and subjective ethical relativism. These concepts examine a persons behavior from different points of view. People say that morality is just a matter of culture. It proves that morality is relative to a given culture. It is the main principle on which social or cultural ethical relativism is based on. The theory means that each society or culture determines what is right or wrong for it.
Cultural ethical relativism has two versions: agent-centered version and evaluator-centered version. According to the first each action or institution should be judged according to the standards of the culture in which it occurs. And the second states that each culture should use its own standards to judge all actions and institutions, wherever and whenever they occur. Subjective ethical relativism is the theory that states that the truth of moral principles should be determined by an individual. A person is sure that it is right for him or her personally. A person should not take into account other points of view. So, subjective relativism allows a person to be sovereign over the principles that dictate how to live.
It goes without saying that subjective ethical relativism and cultural ethical relativism are two different theories. The main difference in them is: who or what should judge what is right or wrong. Though the theories propose different attitude towards the problem of truth but they both have problems. According to cultural ethical relativism no one have a right to criticize other cultures when they act consistently with their own beliefs, no matter how hideous their practices are. It may lead towards limitless and chaos. It may lead to violation of human rights and freedoms.
Most of all it would be impossible to use moral arguments against the status quo in one’s own culture, no matter how good an argument you have against the status quo. According to subjective ethical relativism each person has a right to establish his or her own ethical rules and follow them. These rules would be good for one or several persons; but for the rest they could be the violation of their own rules. But it is known that a man is a part of community. If a person does not follow the rules of a community he or she will be tore away. In this theory is a sound of selfishness. So, taking into account all pros and cons of these theories new type of ethnical behavior should be created. One of them is computer ethic.
The Research paper on Concept of ethical relativism
Ethical relativism is the theory that there are no universalized moral standards to apply to all people all the time. The relativity of ethics refers to the ethics may be different in different societies. The same situation and behavior may be morally acceptable in one society but morally unacceptable in another. However, this theory is rejected by most ethicists. First of all, some claim that ...
Computer ethics deals with a problem how computing professionals should make decisions taking into account professional and social conduct. Though the theory was appeared in 70s but only several years ago it was developed. So, computer ethnic is quite new and there is a policy vacuum about how computer technology should be used. It raises a lot of problems. Computers provide us with new capabilities and these in turn give us new choices for action. But sometimes there is no certain policy for conduct in some situations; or existing policies seem inadequate.
Computer ethics should guide our actions. Of course, some ethical situations confront us as individuals and some as a society. And computer ethics should include consideration of both personal and social policies for the ethical use of computer technology. But the most difficult task in computer ethics is to propose conceptual frameworks for understanding ethical problems involving computer technology. Lets take an example that helps to understand what kind of conceptual work required. For example, it is necessary to formulate a policy for protecting computer programs. At the first sight the idea may seem clear enough: it is a policy for protecting a kind of intellectual property.
But there are other questions that should be answered before. What is a computer program? Is it really intellectual property which can be owned or is it more like an idea, an algorithm, which is not owned by anybody? If a computer program is intellectual property, is it an expression of an idea that is owned (traditionally protectable by copyright) or is it a process that is owned (traditionally protectable by patent)? Is a machine-readable program a copy of a human-readable program? Thats why it is necessary to conceptualize the nature of a computer program in order to answer the questions. The core issues of computer ethics include personal or professional responsibility: intellectual property rights, privacy, censorship etc. There is another kind of responsibility – social responsibility. This is an attempt by organizations to find equilibrium between all their commitments, including investors, employees, customers and competitors alike. In the industrialized nations of the world, the “information revolution” already has significantly altered many aspects of life — in banking and commerce, work and employment, medical care etc. Consequently, information technology has begun to affect (in both good and bad ways) community life, family life, human relationships, education, freedom, democracy, and so on. Computer ethics in the broadest sense can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of information technology..
The Essay on Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
Computer ethics relates to the ethical values that should guide the computer professionals in their conduct. The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics establish guiding principles for all of us to follow. Read on to know these Ten Commandments. Every sphere of life is guided by a set of rules of what is right and what is wrong. The difference between the ‘right’ and the &# ...
