Joseph Margoils’s Moral Relativism

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecturer in Ethics Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts - New Valley University

Abstract

The research deals with the doctrine of moral relativism of the American philosopher "Margolis", and the most important ideas that he presented in his book "A Life Without Principles" in 1966. The main idea in this book is that there are no permanent fixed principles in the field of ethics, and that morality and human nature are all related to history and civilization. . The topic was addressed through the following pionts:
1- Ethics for Margolis.
2- Margolis ethics and politics.
3- Relativistic ideas in the philosophy of "Margolis" from a critical
    point of view.
4- Applied ethics from the point of view of "Margolis" and his critics.
5- Dr. Al-Alusi, and Prof. Dr. Zakaria Ibrahim in moral relativism.
The results of the research were obtained using the analytical method, which can be summarized in:
1) That "Margolis" applied his moral relativism doctrine in the field of applied ethics and presented ideas that could be accepted.
2) That Margolis' ideas in the philosophy of ethics are likely the result of his merging of ethics and politics, something that has its roots in ancient Greek philosophy.
3) That the topic of relativism and the continuous change in the ethical system, which Margolis emphasized, relates to the rules of behavior that apply the fixed principles, and that the element of relativism and change that Margolis insists on in the field of ethics is mainly related to our awareness of the values ​​represented by these fixed principles.

Keywords


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(2) Ibid,p.7,p.9.                   
(3)  Opt.cit,p.15,p.172:173
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