conventionalism

Moral Conventionalism: There are no objective moral facts. Statements of the form “x is right/good/moral” mean “My society approves of x” and statements of the form “x is wrong/bad/immoral” mean “My society disapproves of x”.

The Problem of Moral Disagreement

1) When one person says “X is morally acceptable” and someone else says “X is morally unacceptable”, they have a disagreement.

2) If Subjectivism were true, there would be no be disagreement.

3) Subjectivism is false.

Article 148. (a)whoever commits the offence of

sodomy, shall be punished, with whipping a hundred lashes, and he may also be punished with imprisonment for a term, not exceeding five years;

(b)where the offender is convicted for the second time, he shall be punished, with whipping a hundred lashes, and with imprisonment, for a term, not exceeding five years;

(c)where the offender is convicted for the third time, he shall be punished, with death, or with life imprisonment.

The Revised Problem of Moral Disagreement

1) When a person in one society says “X is morally acceptable” and someone in a different society says “X is morally unacceptable”, they have a disagreement.

2) If Conventionalism were true, there would be no disagreement.

3) Conventionalism is false.

The Problem of Moral Fallibility

1) If Subjectivism were true, then each us would be infallible when it comes to our moral judgments.

2) None of us is infallible when it comes to our moral judgments.

3) Subjectivism is false.

The Revised Problem of Moral Fallibility

1) If Conventionalism were true, then each society would be infallible when it comes to its moral judgments.

2) No society is infallible when it comes to its moral judgments.

3) Conventionalism is false.

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.-The Universal Declaration of Human

Rights

Ideas of right and wrong, good and evil, are found in all societies, though they differ in their expression among different peoples… [So] Standards and values are relative to the culture from which they derive so that any attempt to formulate postulates that grow out of the beliefs or moral codes of one culture must to that extent detract from the applicability of any Declaration of Human Rights to mankind as a whole.

-The 1947 Statement of The AAA

The Progress Problem

1. If Conventionalism were true, then all moral reform should be opposed.

2. It’s not the case that all moral reform should be opposed.

3. Conventionalism is false.