This document provides an overview of different moral philosophies including nihilism, relativism, objectivism, and subjectivism. It discusses key concepts of each view such as nihilism's belief that life has no objective meaning or purpose. Relativism is explained as the view that morality is determined by one's culture or society. Objectivism holds that there are universal moral truths and ethics are based on rational self-interest. The document also examines different types of these views like metaphysical nihilism and moral relativism. Overall, the document aims to define and compare major approaches to ethics.

1. The University of Cambodia
PHL 105: Moral Philosophy
Lectured by:
Mut Somoeun (M.Ed)

2. Moral Philosophies
• Nihilism?
• Relativism?
• Objectivism?
• Subjectivism?

3. What is Nihilism?
 Nihilism from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical
doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more
reputedly meaningful aspects of life.
 Most commonly, nihilists argue that life is without
objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.
 Moral nihilists assert that there is no inherent morality,
and that accepted moral values are abstractly contrived.
 Nihilism may also take epistemological, ontological, or
metaphysical forms, meaning respectively that, in some
aspect, knowledge is not possible, or reality does not
actually exist.

4. What is Nihilism?
 The rejection of all religious and moral principles, in
the belief that life is meaningless.
 Philosophy: the belief that nothing in the world has a
real existence
 Moral nihilists assert that there is no inherent
morality, and that accepted moral values are
abstractly contrived.
 Knowledge is not possible, or reality does not
actually exist.

5. Core Beliefs of Nihilism
It is often associated with extreme pessimism
& the radical skepticism that condemns
existence.
A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have
no loyalties, & no purpose other than the
impulse to destroy.

6. Ideas of Nihilists
• Epistemological- denies knowledge and truth
• Political- destruction of political order is necessary
• Ethical- rejects absolute moral values
• Existential- life has no intrinsic meaning & purpose
(Macbeth)

7. Types of Nihilism
Metaphysical Nihilism
Mereological Nihilism
Partial Nihilism
Moral Nihilism

8. Metaphysical Nihilism
 There are no objects or that objects do not exist, and
therefore empirical reality is an illusion, or, more
commonly, the theory that there might have been no
objects at all.
 An object, here, is a thing, an entity or a being that
can have properties and bear relations to other
objects.
 This position has been variously attributed to
philosophers such as Buddha, Hindu Advaita
Vedantins and Immanuel Kant.

9. Mereological Nihilism
 Also called compositional nihilism, or rarely simply
nihilism: the study of parts and the wholes they form) is
the position that objects with proper parts do not exist.
 Only mereological simples, those basic building blocks
without proper parts, exist.
 Or, more succinctly, "nothing is a proper part of
anything".
 Mereological nihilism also asserts that objects existing in
time do not have any temporal parts.

10. Partial Nihilism
 Nihilists argue only objects of a certain kind have parts.
 One such position is organicism, the view that living
beings are composites (i.e. objects that have parts) and
therefore exist, but there are no other objects with parts,
and all other objects that we believe to be composite
(e.g. chairs, planets, etc) therefore do not exist.
 However, Organicists such as Peter van Inwagen assert
that, even if there is no such things as a table, there are
simples (basic building blocks) "arranged table-wise".

11. Moral Nihilism
 Also known as ethical nihilism which is the meta-ethical
view that ethical claims are generally false - nothing is
intrinsically moral or immoral.
 There are no objective moral facts or true propositions -
that nothing is morally good, bad, wrong, right, etc -
because there are no moral truths (e.g. a moral nihilist
would say that murder is not wrong, but neither is it right).
 Morality to be constructed, a complex set of rules and
recommendations that may give a psychological, social, or
economical advantage to its adherents, but is otherwise
without universal or even relative truth in any sense.

12. Moral Relativism
 DEFINITION: A theory asserting that a moral
claim is right if the individual (or her culture)
believes that it is right.
 Therefore, two people with opposite moral
evaluations of the same thing can both be right (or,
at least, it can be that neither is wrong).

13.  Moral relativism may be any of several philosophical
positions concerned with the differences in moral
judgments across different people and cultures.
 Moral codes differ from one society to another:
o Some believe slavery is permissible, some don’t.
o Some enforce female circumcision, some don’t
o Some hold that everyone should be treated as
equals, some don’t
Moral Relativism

14. Moral Relativism

15. Moral Relativism
 There is no objective moral standard independent of
what societies endorse.
 There is no objective moral truth for all people at all
times.
 ‘Morally right’ = ‘right according to (some) society’s
moral code’
 So we can’t say that a society’s moral values or
practices are objectively right or wrong.

16. Three Types of Moral Relativism
 Descriptive moral relativism holds only that some
people do in fact disagree about what is moral.
 Meta-ethical moral relativism holds that in such
disagreements, nobody is objectively right or wrong.
 Normative moral relativism holds that because nobody
is right or wrong, we ought to tolerate the behavior of
others even when we disagree about the morality of it.

17. Normative relativism
‘Morally right’ = ‘right according to (some)
society’s moral code’
We can’t use the standards of one society (e.g.
ours) to judge another society’s morality.

18. Relativism and Human Nature
 Different societies share many general principles and
virtues
o E.g. prohibitions on killing, lying, theft
o Endorse care of the weak and courage
 Different ethical practices reflect different conditions, not
different principles
 Aristotle: we all aim to achieve the best life
o We all live in some society, and will need similar
virtues for this
o Some societies endorse traits that don’t help people
flourish

19. Relativism and Human Nature
 There is no one ‘best’ life for people – the idea is
culturally relative.
 Not all societies believe everyone is equal, so don’t
agree that everyone should be assisted to achieve the
best life.

20. Relativists Maintain
 There are no moral rules that apply to all cultures or all
people in one culture. Therefore no culture or person
has the right to impose their moral rules on any other
culture or person.
 There are no universal moral rules that apply to
everyone.

21. Radical Relativism
 All facts are supposed to depend on what people
believe.
 CORE CLAIM:
o Nothing is objectively true.
 Easily refuted by pointing out that the core claim
must be presented as objectively true.

22. Moral Objectivism
 It is the concept of a man as a heroic being, with his
own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with
productive achievement as his noblest activity, and
reason as his only absolute.
 Objectivism is the philosophy of rational
individualism
(Ayn Rand (1905-1982).

23. Moral Objectivism
• Robust moral realism, the meta-ethical position that
ethical sentences express factual propositions about
robust or mind-independent features of the world, and
that some such propositions are true.
• Moral universalism (also called minimal or moderate
moral realism), the meta-ethical position that some
system of ethics or morality is universally valid, without
any further semantic or metaphysical claim.

24. Moral Objectivism
 Objectivism is a philosophy that is broken down into four
stages (Ayn Rand: Russian-American writer,1905–1982):
• 1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality
• 2. Epistemology: Reason
• 3. Ethics: Self-Interest
• 4. Politics: Capitalism

25. What is Metaphysics?
• It deals with ontology and epistemology.
o The study of being - assumptions on nature of reality.
How it exists, is organized and works.
• It is concerned with the nature and origin of existence and
of mind, the interaction between them, the meaning of
time and space, causation, determinism and free will,
personality and self, arguments for the belief in god, and
human immortality.

26. What is Epistemology?
• It examines the nature of knowledge.
o How do we know?
o How is knowledge derived?
o How it is to be validated and Tested?
o What are the limits of understanding?

27. Ethics
• Ayn Rand defines morality as "a code of values to guide
man's choices and actions—the choices and actions that
determine the purpose and the course of his life."
• The first question is not what should the code of values
be, the first question is "Does man need values at all—
and why?
• According to Rand, it is only the concept of 'Life' that
makes the concept of 'Value' possible," and, "the fact that
a living entity is, determines what it ought to do.

28. Politics
• Ayn Rand's defense of individual liberty integrates elements
from her entire philosophy.
• Since reason is the means of human knowledge, it is therefore
each person's most fundamental means of survival and is
necessary to the achievement of values.
• The use or threat of force neutralizes the practical effect of an
individual's reason, whether the force originates from the state
or from a criminal.
• According to Rand, "man's mind will not function at the point
of a gun." Therefore, the only type of organized human
behavior consistent with the operation of reason is that of
voluntary cooperation. Persuasion is the method of reason.

29. Moral/ Ethical Subjectivism
• People have different opinions, but where morality is
concerned, there are no ‘facts,’ and no one is ‘right.’
People just feel differently, and that’s all there is to it.
(James Rachels & Stuart Rachels)
• The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and
die, but to enjoy yourself and live.
(Ayn Rand)

30. Relativism and Subjectivism
• Relativism analyses morality as essentially socially.
• Relativism is not subjectivism.
o Subjectivism makes morality ‘relative’ to each
individual person. Moral subjectivist claim that
whatever an individual believes to be right or wrong is
right or wrong for that individual.
o According to relativism, society determines there is a
right answer for individuals within that society.

31. Questions?