a. Ethical subjectivism

 This is a meta-ethical approach to morality. This is the view that what is right or wrong in any given situation is simply dependent on what people think about it.

 The theory states that ethical statements express propositions and the truth or falsity of these propositions is dependent on people‟s attitudes, personal opinions or beliefs.

b. Ethical absolutism, or moral absolutism

 States that there are absolute moral standards against which the morality of actions can be judged. „Right‟ and „wrong‟ are recognised by objective standards that apply universally, to everyone.

 Plato was a philosopher who argued in favour of moral absolutism and in „good‟ that always holds its value.

 Absolutism might be associated with religious morality, but an individual can have an absolutist view of morality without being religious.

For example, an individual might believe that slavery, war, child abuse and the death penalty are all morally wrong and cannot be justified under any circumstances.

Another example is that a person might consider that stealing money is always wrong, even if the amount stolen is quite small and the money is used to buy food for a starving family.

Ethical relativism states

 That there is no objective or absolute moral truth, and there are no universal standards of moral behaviour.  Morality is relative to the ethical norms that are accepted by society at the time, and the culture of society.

 What is „right‟ in one society may be considered „wrong‟ in another. And what is considered „wrong‟ at one moment in time might be considered „right‟ several years later.

An example of ethical relativism is a consideration of polygamy as both right and wrong relative to the culture in operation. Another example is a consideration of capital punishment as a just punishment for capital or heinous crimes by some people or states and capital punishment as inhumane and a violation of the right to life by others.

c. Three aspects of ethical relativism

i. Descriptive ethical relativism- This is the view that different cultures and societies have different ethical systems and cultures. „Right‟ and „wrong‟ are concepts that relate to the particular culture. (There is no universal rule about right and wrong).

ii. Normative ethical relativism- The beliefs or moral values within each culture are right within that culture. It is impossible to judge the values of another culture externally or objectively. Moral values of a culture can only be judged from within the culture.

iii. Religious moral relativism – An example of normative ethical relativism, this maintains that morality is determined and dependent on religious standpoints. However, it recognises that no single religion is universally or exclusively true.

iv. Historical relativism – This provides context for ethical views to vary across periods of time. For example, the elimination of suspected witches or the widespread adoption of slavery in the past is no longer acceptable today.