Ethical (Moral) Relativism

In America, many are comfortable describing ethics as follows: “Well, what’s right for me is right for me and what’s right for you is right for you. Let’s just agree to disagree.” This is an affirmation of what philosophers call individual or subjective moral relativism. In this understanding of relativism, morality is a matter of individual feelings and personal preference. In individual moral relativism, the determination of what is right and wrong in a situation varies according to the individual. Moral relativists do not believe in natural law or universal truths.

Cultural moral relativism puts culture at the forefront of relative ethical decision-making.  It says the individual must include the precepts of his or her culture as a prominent part of the relativistic moral action.

Lawrence Kohlberg, a prominent psychologist known for recognizing moral stages of development, takes it a step farther saying cultural relativists are persons stuck in the “Conventional Stage” of ethical development.

In your paper, please define individual moral relativism and cultural moral relativism in detail, noting how they differ from each other, their strengths and weaknesses, and give your position on Kohlberg’s stance on ethical relativism.
What aspects of ethical relativism do you identify and agree with? What aspects do you disagree with?  Give a personal example that illustrates your stance on ethical relativism, describing how you made a moral decision in an ethical dilemma.  Include at least two references to support your thoughts.

Post a 500-word paper to the M4: Assignment 2 Dropbox by due Wednesday, April 9, 2014. All written assignments and responses should follow proper citation rules for attributing sources. Please use Microsoft Word spelling/grammar checker. Be mindful of plagiarism policies.

Choose a psychological report from one of these options:

 

http://www.education.com/reference/article/sample-assessment-psychological-report/

http://www.elspsyd.com/Documents/Sample%20Report.pdf

 

What does it suggest? What would you include in a treatment plan based on the child’s psychological needs? Explain.

 

PAPER MUST HAVE THREE SOURCES, 2-4 PAGES, TITLE PAGE AND REFERENCE PAGE!

 

Assignment instructions: As part of this course, you must write short papers on different topics pertaining to corrections. While the topics vary, your papers, at a minimum, should do the following:

 

• Answer the question or address the issue(s) described in the instructions.
• Include your perspective, when applicable, and share your opinion or explain your rationale for your position.
• Follow word count guidelines. Include references and citations for material presented that are not your own original work. You can use first person to indicate your opinion (I, my, etc.) in lieu of listing yourself as a source.

 

Format: Short papers should follow these formatting guidelines: use of three sources, 2–4 pages, double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and citations in APA format.

 

Instructor feedback: Students can find their feedback in the Grade Center.

 

 

Critical Elements	Exemplary	Proficient	Needs Improvement	Not Evident	Value
Analysis	Well-developed, effective, and accurate analysis of the topic and its impact on adolescent development, substantiated with scholarly research (36-40)	Effective and accurate analysis of the topic and its impact on adolescent development   (32-35)	Accurate analysis on the topic and its impact on adolescent development but requires additional support (28-31)	Does not accurately analyze topic and its impact on adolescent development   (0-27)	40
Insightful Conclusions	Clearly identifies conclusions and/or perspectives and connects each to specific adolescent development concept with clear supporting details substantiated with scholarly research (36-40)	Identifies conclusions and/or perspectives and connects each to specific adolescent development concept   (32-35)	Attempts to identify conclusions and/or perspectives but does not always clearly or accurately relate each adolescent development concept (28-31)	Does not identify conclusions and/or perspectives and does not connect each to specific adolescent development concept   (0-27)	40
Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format (18-20)	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization     (16-17)	Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas (14-15)	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas (0-13)	20
Earned Total Comments					100