'''Moral relativism''' is the theory that [[moral]] standards vary from society to society, and from time to time in history. Under this theory, [[ethical]] principles are not universal and are instead social products. This theory argues that there is no objective moral order or absolute [[truth]]. As examples, the acceptance of variability in what is seen as moral, and the variability of the application of those morals is seen throughout history: with the [[holocaust]]-[[genocide]] of the [[Jews]] by the [[Nazi Party]], the enslavement of the [[African]] people by both [[European]] and [[American]] powers, the persecution (including [[torture]] and murder) of [[Christians]] during [[Roman]] times and in [[Communist]] states, all justified by the perpetrators in morally relativistic terms. Two more examples may be cited, which get to the heart of the matter, although subtly; for one [[Hitler]] justified his racial policies by saying:
:''The greatest achievements in intellectual life can never be produced by those of [[immigrant|alien race]] but only by those who are inspired by the [[Aryan]] or [[German]] spirit. In view of the narrowness of the space within which German intellectual work and German intellectual workers have to live they had a natural moral claim to precedence and preference.''<ref>Hitler, Adolf (April 1933). [http://web.archive.org/web/19991103110620/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm "Hitler speech to the Doctors’ Union in April 1933 on racial purification of the German people"]. ''The Speeches of Adolf Hitler'', N. H. Baynes, ed. (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1942), vol. 1, p. 728. Republished at University of the West of England website/Web Genocide Documentation Centre(September 1999), Dr. S. D. Stein, ed. Retrieved from November 3, 1999 archive at Internet Archive.</ref>
Similarly, the case for [[slavery]] was often made in morally relativistic terms, with Thomas Dew arguing in 1832 that: