Critical Review of David Wong, Moral Relativity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985),
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Terrance C. McConnell, Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: This book defends "a theory built around the claim that there is no single true morality" (p. 1). To clarify what he is arguing for, Wong sets out six theses associated with the debate about objectivity and subjectivity in morality (p. 1): (1) "Moral statements have truth values;" (2) "There are good and bad arguments for the moral positions people take;" (3) "Nonmoral facts (states of affairs that obtain in the world and that can be described without the use of moral terms such as `ought,' `good,' and `right') are relevant to the assessment of the truth value of moral statements;" (4) "There are moral facts . . .;" (5) "When two moral statements conflict as recommendations to action, only one statement can be true;" (6) "There is a single true morality." Wong claims (pp. 2-3) that there are features of moral experience which suggest that at least some of theses (1)-(6) are true, and these point to moral objectivity. But there are other features of moral experience—for example, "deep disagreement" over moral issues and "significant diversity in moral belief —which suggest subjectivity (pp. 3-4).
Critical Review of David Wong, Moral Relativity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985),
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Created on 11/17/2010
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Nous 20(4) (November 1986), pp. 559-562.
- Language: English
- Date: 1986
- Keywords
- Morality, relativism, Objectivity, Subjectivity, Book review