A) Explain the main characteristics of Moral Relativism.

The theory of Moral Relativism suggests that no principle or value is completely right or wrong; it depends on the circumstances such as the particular society in which one lives in. This proves to be a problem when discovering the actual truth as people begin to think that the truth relies on who maintains it or that the only truth is their own. This can lead to truth having no significance because everything depends on the society to which one belongs to.

This ideology originates from Ancient Greece at the time of Homer (8th century BCE). People within Greek society began to come across different ideas if what it meant to be moral. They questioned their own absolutist ideals, resulting in the discussions of the Sophists, a group of wise men, who disputed that all morality was relative - what was right and wrong was different within every society. A Greek philosopher, Protagoras proposes that people’s main focus in life was to just get on with it; he says “Man is the measure of all things”. All they wanted was to fit in with their own community; the ‘truth’ was an inconsistent and unpredictable idea. Protagoras said that nothing is absolutely right or wrong and that each person is their own final point of authority when making decisions.

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Moral Relativism is also subjective, meaning that a person’s values are relative to them and so cannot be judged objectively. This is important because we learn that we need to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs and behaviour as well as not to impose our beliefs or morality on other people. Moral Relativism allows people to choose their own code of behaviour as long as it is within the law of society, an act may be good for one person but bad for another, or good in one cultural setting but bad in another, but cannot be either good ...

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