Relativism vs Utilitarianism - What's the difference?
relativism | utilitarianism |
(uncountable, philosophy) The theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.
(countable, philosophy) A specific such theory, advocated by a particular philosopher or school of thought.
* 2008 , Paul Boghossian, “Replies to Wright, MacFarlane and Sosa,” Philosophical Studies , vol. 141, no. 3, p. 413:
(philosophy) A system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.
(philosophy) the theory that action should be directed toward achieving the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people"; hedonistic universalism.
As nouns the difference between relativism and utilitarianism
is that relativism is the theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them while utilitarianism is a system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.relativism
English
(wikipedia relativism)Noun
- Following Gilbert Harman’s lead, my own formulation of relativism' about the normative domain was based on the classic examples of thoroughgoing ' relativisms drawn from physics.