Moral Relativism vs Universalism

Abstract

Debates between moral relativists and moral universalists are lively in bioethics and its new area of focus, global health ethics. Global migration patterns have created multicultural communities within which much of healthcare takes place. Confrontations with foreign cultural practices are challenging the field to propose appropriate responses. Between vulgar relativism and the claim that universal values should guide the resolution of moral and cross-cultural disagreements is a wide range of concepts that have been formulated to clarify the nature of moral pluralism and disagreement, the nature of universal principles in ethics, and the place of special obligations such as justice and human rights.