Moral Absolutism With Exceptions Is Moral Relativism

Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the medical use of marijuana. The tens of thousands of

Moral absolutism is a moral view that certain actions are inherently right or wrong. Moral absolution, in more depth, is a belief that there are established standards against moral questions that can be judged and certain actions are considered right or wrong. Absolutism represents that ethics and morals come from within the laws of the universe, the nature of humanity, the will of God. Moral absolutists base their decision on “what is right” in the eyes of God and humanity.

Moral Absolutism is concerned with right and wrong behavior. The absolute is what controls whether the action or behavior is right or wrong. Therefore, from the position of moral absolute, some things are always right and some things are always wrong no matter how one try to rationalize them. Moral absolutism materializes from a theistic worldview. Ethical Absolutists can condemn practices such as the Nazi harassment of the Jews because Absolutist views give definite guidelines as to what is right and wrong.

It is fair to agree with the idea of Moral Relativism. Each culture has their own views of right or wrong. Stepping into different cultures is similar to being a part of new societies, each with differing practices and ideals. There is no single definition of what is right or what is wrong. Individuals has their own opinions on separate topics and each reason for a belief is acceptable. For example, in some cultures it is important for a man to have multiple wives and women are not allowed to leave their homes without a man accompanying them. In the United States, it is not acceptable to have multiple wives and each woman has the freedom to go where ever they like whenever they please. When discussing the idea of abortion individuals have opposing views depending on what their morals are and if they believe in the life of an unborn child. While some people believe it is entirely up to the pregnant women whether they desire to abort their

Absolutism and Relativism are two different sets of thinking and belief when faced with a moral dilemma or any situation involving morality in the world. The absolutist point of view is the idea that every moral dilemma has one true correct solution or answer and only one. For Absolutists, their answer is right so the will fight and disagree with anyone who opposes them. While Relativists believe morals and morality are more of a private affair where no one but the person who the situation is dealing with can make the decision on what is deemed moral and unmoral. Relativists also believe there are no moral rules that apply to all people and cultures. They believe someone or a culture should be able to complete any action they believe is moral.

Absolutism does exist, and it is living in the Word of God. There is also endless proof that our culture is advancing every day, and with that, humanities views on morality are constantly being modified. The battle between good versus evil is present throughout every decision we make, and there will always be a remnant absolute truth that lies behind it all. If relativism were true, there would be no justice, fairness, accountability, good or evil, right or wrong, praise, blame, tolerance, or meaningful moral conversations. Relativism is anarchy, and without authority or laws, our world would be complete and utter

Moral relativism explains plenty of cultural differences. It allows different societies to have different standards of rightness and validates them. John Ladd details, “[as a result,] whether or not it is right for individuals to act a certain way depends on the society to which they belong” (31). He concludes that there is no absolute or universal moral standard by which all men abide by. By combining the diversity thesis (each culture is different) and the dependency thesis (people act differently dependent of

An individual’s ability to establish concepts of right and wrong based upon societal conventions and independent thought is the philosophy of moral relativism. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores this philosophy in The Scarlet letter to connect the understanding of sin to Puritan society and the inevitable hypocrisy that comes with uniform principles. Hawthorne uses tone and diction to reveal the concept of sin in relation to moral relativism, proving the improbability of establishing uniform morality that Puritan society attempts to achieve. Hawthorne’s depiction of Hester’s role in society reveals that her morality derived from her alienation from the Puritan community, thus altering her perception of sin. After Hester and Dimmesdale propose

In Gilbert Harman’s ‘Moral Relativism Defended’. He claims that we make inner judgements about people only if we suppose that they are capable of being motivated by relevant moral considerations (RMCs). He goes on to claim that such moral considerations present an logical ‘oddity’ if it were applied to people outside our RMCs, where he cites examples like Hitler and the employee from Murder, Incorporated to further illustrate this fact. I do not subscribe to his treatment of such examples, and I argue that the logical oddities he points out in those examples are flawed.

Ethical Relativism, Cultural Relativism, and Ethical Absolutism Ethical relativists argue that what is morally right or wrong may vary in fundamental way from person to person or from culture to culture. In other words, as Robert Arrington (1983) argues, we cannot simply say that a moral judgement is true for all purposes, persons, and cultures-we can assert only that it is true for a particular person or social group. Cultural relativism is a form of relativism that claims that moral beliefs and practices vary from culture to culture. It is important to understand, however that cultural relativists do not argue that certain acts or practices are right or wrong in a particular culture.

Moral relativism is becoming a greater part of society everyday. Since the idea of relativism states that nothing is absolute, the concepts of right and wrong are hazy. People are questioning their morals and wondering what they should believe, but in reality, no one knows. Moral absolutes do not exist in moral relativism. People are able to believe whatever they want, but they are not allowed to express their morals as fact.

Two of the moral theories are relativism and absolutism, but what does this mean? Relativism is define by Wilkins are in short anti-legalist and anti absolutist (85). Relativism and absolutism are a dispute over the moral principles in the world. It is not that they disagree with what about is right and wrong or the moral principles behind them. It is that they are however against how principles should be held. They are in complete contrast to one another, even though their own right can justify both.

The final areas addressed by Goodman were rape and clitoridectomy. Both of these actions are violations against another person. While it is known that both men and women are raped, rape is primarily recognized as a sexual crime against a woman. Rape not only involves forced sex; it often also includes assault, other physical injuries, and many times, even death. I can agree with Goodman (p. 92) “that rape is not a sexual crime but a power crime.” I also agree with Goodman’s statements: “Rape is wrong. It is always wrong. No circumstance can make it right.” (p. 92)

Moral Relativism is generally used to describe the differences among various cultures that influence their morality and ethics. According to James Rachels, because of moral relativism there typically is no right and wrong and briefly states : “Different cultures have different moral codes.” (Rachels, 18) Various cultures perceive right and wrong differently. What is considered right in one society could be considered wrong in another, but altogether all cultures have some values in common.

A discussion of moral theories must begin with a discussion of the two extremes of ethical thinking, absolutism and relativism. Moral Absolutism is the belief that there are absolute standards where moral questions are judged and can be deemed right or wrong, regardless of the context. Steadfast laws of the universe, God, nature itself are the forces that deem an action right or wrong. A person’s actions rather than morals and motivations are important in an Absolutism proposition. Moral Relativism states, that the moral propositions are based on Ethical relativism is the theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one's culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the