Rachels Arguments against Relativism Argument

2021-05-14
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There is no time in the world people will have the same belief, and this has brought various arguments regarding various things in the world. Some of these arguments are based on cultural beliefs, and this led to James Rachels challenge the cultural relativism as he believed that there are always an objective set of ethics. While Rachels concurs with the relativist that we ought to keep a receptive outlook when making a moral judgment and not rush to credit the greater part of our inclinations to a flat out standard (Rachels, 172), he varies from moral and social relativism by holding that there exists a target standard of profound quality. By this, he implies that there is a socially impartial standard of good and bad by which we can judge between two social orders. By utilizing James Rachels argument, the paper will examine the force of the following arguments; how old is earth, whether there is life on other planets and whether there exist bigfoot.

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Rachels arguments against these relativism arguments are grounded on the fact that there is God. Therefore, the Christianity perspective that follows the objective ethical standard is viewed more reasonable than the cultural relativism or even atheism. For example, the argument regarding the age of the earth people disagrees on the argument due to the variation in moral codes (Pojman & Vaughn, p 452). According to Rachels, cultural relativism arguments are based on the persons thoughts and perception. This implies that objective truth is lacking in their argument since bad or good is determined by the views of the people and opinions do vary in different cultures. Therefore, embarking on our argument of the age of the earth, Rachels believes that the truth lies in first accepting the existence of God and this lead to the belief in the Bible that accounts the beginning of the earth. The moral argument to make in this case is to refer to the Bible that asserts that God created Adam in the sixth day of the planet earth. The chronological sequence of human race help in establishing the age of earth and Bible explains it as approximately 6000 years as seen in Genesis 5.

Scientists claim that there is life in the other planets though there is no sound evidence to prove this argument. However, numerous reports have asserted there is life in the other planets while others believe there is no life and maintain life is only found in the earth. However, citing Rachels argument in challenging cultural relativism, he believes that cultural relativism arguments are often invalid. He explains that the premise of the argument is based on the belief of the people and thus the conclusion ought to be associated with the case ((Pojman & Vaughn, p 455). The problem is that the conclusion is not based on the judgment of the premise. The thoughts that are deep-rooted in our culture may not always suggest the truth concerning nature.

The last argument concerns the existence of Bigfoot that raises a tough debate over the existence due to variation in beliefs. This quest for Bigfoot existence dates back in eighteenth and twentieth centurys when various magazines in North America reported a discovery of huge strange footprints (Radford, par 1). The logic of an argument lies in the provision of the evidence, and there is some evidence submitted to show the existence of Bigfoot through photography. The problem with this argument is that it does not offer bone or bodily remains of the Bigfoot. The difference beliefs exist regarding this matter, and Rachels argues that some argument by relativism should not be assumed, but some of the points may be agreed upon without supporting the whole argument.

In my assessment of Rachels' perspectives, I concurred with his studies of social relativism and his contentions for suspecting that a target standard exists, yet contended that his standard can't be reliably confirmed with regards to an agnostic perspective, which uncovered an irregularity in his arrangement of morals.

Work Cited

Pojman, L, and Vaughn, L. Philosophy: The Quest or Truth. New York: Oxford University Press 2009. Print.

Radford, B. (2002). Bigfoot at 50 Evaluating a Half-century of a Bigfoot Evidence. Retrieved from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/bigfoot_at_50_evaluating_a_half-century_of_bigfoot_evidence

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