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Perhaps the most potent argument for subjectivism is that the most destructive ethical systems known to humanity have been absolute and objectivist in nature. Fascism posits only one race or national group has a right to life. The Spanish Inquisition said that there was only one interpretation of Catholicism. In contrast, when absolutist systems have been forced to question their assumptions, they have grown more subjectivist and also more humane in nature, and, one could argue, better fulfill the functions they are designed to serve. America proclaims itself a land of liberty, but only by questioning what it means to be a citizen has it truly become a land with freedom for African-Americans, women, and immigrants. Catholicism eliminated its system of selling indulgences after Martin Luther broke with the church and questioned the idea that his Church superiors must be always right on questions of faith

A final objection to ethical relativism is that it is a descriptive, rather than a prescriptive philosophy. In other words, it describes what people believe without really telling people how to behave. But by forcing the ethical decision-maker to view his or her standard in a larger historical and international context, to observe

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