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If one holds that "violence" (or any other term for that matter) is simply whatever a culture or society defines it to be, then one is assuming there are uniform entities that can be referred to as "cultures" or "societies," authorities that can speak for them on such matters, and some fairly dependable system whereby the outside observer can identify them. In other words, about the only thing the relativist does have to universalize are structures of authority.
This is a very interesting take. I have not read the full interview of Chomsky that you linked, but upon a cursory glance it seems that he holds a moral sense to be on par with language. It is interesting since I had always assumed a moral sense to be an extension of language and not independent from it. I think that attributing certain affects of language to cultural/social/historical factors is logically sound, as it would (at most) clarify tribal attitudes towards killing i.e holding killing to function on equivalency and not a judicial system.We seem to have some sort of innate moral sense, that nevertheless can be culturally/socially/historically affected
True relativists have hidden assumptions with real consequences:
This is quite compelling, since I have often pondered those questions myself. I think it is definitely true that we rely on our own behavior in order to determine what is optimal in a given situation. I think that is why you will see paragons of morality within various societies; primarily, it is an expression of the status quo, and will likely benefit said person. This is probably why you will also see others who try to defy conventional moral norms, or at least conventional by the standards of a given group.I think the nuances in what is considered moral are affected by culture and upbringing. So- my Grandma and Dad believed it was sinful to have sex outside of marriage. That isn't a very common idea now. I imagine the majority of people do.
When it comes down to the bare basics though- basically to treat others with respect- I've wondered that myself. Are we intrinsically moral creatures, or are we taught to be that way? I think maybe it's a bit of both. Seeing as we are mostly social creatures- we rely and are subject to those around us- I think we maybe learn from experience that we need to show others respect. Especially those who are stronger than us. I don't think we are just taught that- I think we learn it for ourselves.
Have you ever read the book: 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins? He claims that as well as dominant self serving genes, we have also evolved to have altruistic genes- because we live in societies I suppose. Where- it can help us in the long term if we help others
Sorry! I should've explained betterAssuming that I am not incorrect here, I can understand that this second proposal refers to the value (whatever that means) of varying terms predicated by an authoritative body.
... we spent a good deal of time in a somewhat reluctant dialogue with a police lieutenant who came quickly to be known, among the prisoners, as "Officer Mindfuck"—a man who boarded the bus, apparently, simply to entertain himself by debating us. On pretty much every topic, he took the same approach: trying to convince us we were not taking a sufficiently relativistic position.
It didn't seem to be a ploy, either—at least, when he did leave the bus (to our great collective relief) the first thing he remarked to his fellow officers outside was "the problem with those guys is they don't understand there's more than one side to any question."
In a world where there is absolutely no way to know whether IMF policies are beneficial or harmful, there is no basis on which to make a principled stand about anything: it does make sense that one might conclude following the rules, whatever they are, is the only possible moral course of action. And afterwards I began noticing that, whenever police were laying down the law, they treated objections in exactly the same way...