moral relativism, philosophy homework help

Reply to post.

Have you ever wondered why relativism is so popular in academic circles? This idea didn’t occur to me until I was a graduate student in philosophy in 2001. I was literally on my way to class when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 happened! For the next few days we discussed the political and ethical implication of that event. Prior to 9/11, one of my professors was asked to debate the topic, “Are all morals relative?” It seemed that, now with 9/11, the debate was over before it began. After all, who in their right mind would try to defend relativism after such a horrific event? The relativist would have to maintain that there are no such things as “terrorist” acts and that what happened that day was only “wrong” for those who were hurt, but there was nothing really wrong with what they did. Could it be that those in favor of relativism, seek to gain something personally by justifying their actions according to this view?