Morale Relativism

Protagoras is a Greek philosopher who was also a professor in the fifth century, he was considered by Plato as a sophist. Protagoras was known for his relativism that is implied in his very famous quote, which is still nowadays debated “man is the measure of all things; of those that are, that they are, of those that are not, that they are not’’. I will try to discuss in this paper the meaning of this quote; Then, I will see in which way it leads us to “moral relativism”, and finally, I will talk about the different kinds of moral relativism that the philosophers have developed.

When we first try to analyze this quote we are certainly attracted by its deep meaning, which I think will never certainly be find. By saying that “the man is the measure of all things; of those that are, that they are, of those that are not, that they are not” Protagoras has given to the human being a strong power that makes him able to decide for himself for everything, and that enables him to judge weather the things are fair or unfair, true or false. Moreover, as Protagoras was a professor he made his students learn the importance of arguing about the same topic in both pro and con situations, because he believed in the power of man of making an argument positive or negative and this based on only the person and its beliefs. Protagoras also believed that the truth is relative to the individuals and that this individual may change his mind depending on his education, culture or personality. He was convinced that the truth depends on the person and that even if he knows and was certain that something was true another person may think that it is not; and this simply because these two people see things differently. As quoted By Plato, Protagoras once said: "The way things appear to me, in that way they exist for me; and the way things appears to you, in that way they exist for you".

By talking about Protagoras and his believes we are automatically directed to a theory that he was famous for and which is “Relativism” and more specifically “ Moral Relativism”, the theory that says that the truth has no absolute meaning and that it changes from one person to another and from one situation to another but that especially emphasizes the matter of value instead of the matter of fact. The best way to explain Moral Relativism it to say that it is based on the person and that each one decide for himself, weather it is right or wrong. For example, even if the law states that driving at 180 kilometer per hour is liable 2000 dirhams in Morocco a person may think that it is worth it, and that it is not a problem since he always do so and nothing has ever happened to him.

In the other hand, moral relativism may be divided in two kinds that will help us understand more what have been said before: the first one is ethical subjectivism which states that morality is different from one person to another; in other words that people have different opinions and that we should accept those differences since our opinion is also different from others view. Also, Ethical subjectivism holds that people can react in very different ways in the same situation and that it is perfectly normal since we are, as stated before, different.

The second kind is the cultural relativism that states that morality is relative to culture and the environment in which the person has lived and is living in, meaning that a situation or an act that

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