Moral Absolutism and Relativism

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Mind Map on Moral Absolutism and Relativism, created by jessnarweh on 01/25/2014.
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Mind Map by jessnarweh, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by jessnarweh about 11 years ago
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Resource summary

Moral Absolutism and Relativism
  1. WHAT IS IT AND ORIGINS
    1. There are no universally valid moral principles and so there is no one true morality
      1. At the time of Homer (8th century BCE) being good meant you were heroic and the type of person you were was the most important thing. this became developed in the ethical theories of socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
        1. By 6th Century BCE there was no longer any moral certainty. Alasdair MacIntyre said it's due to the discovery of other civilaisations with different ideas on what it meant to be good.
          1. Sophists (wise men) appeared and argued that all morality was relative - right and wrong varied from person to person.
            1. SOCRATES all humans share a common, innate understanding of what is morally good. PLATO there are objective and universal moral truths (complete opposite of sophists). ARISTOTLE rejected Plato's idea of the Forms. They all oppose complete relativism from different angles.
            2. CULTURAL AND NORMATIVE RELATIVISM
              1. CULTURAL RELATIVISM - Different societies have different moral codes, no objective standard can judge one culture better than another, our own moral code is just one among many, there are no universal truths, moral codes are just right for the right society to which they apply and we cannot judge the conduct of other societies, we need to be tolerant.
                1. NORMATIVE RELATIVISM - where actions are assessed according to ethical theories, it's about what is actually right and good and not simply about culturaldiversity and dependency. Normative relativists reject the principle of objectivity or absolutism and see morality as something which evoles and changes. Includes utilitarianism and situation ethics.
                2. SITUATION ETHICS
                  1. JOSEPH FLETCHER (1905-1991) developed it in the 1960s in reaction to Christian legalism and antinomianism. Argues that each individual situation is different and absolute rules are too demanding and retrictive. Christians should base theor actions on one single rule - agape. The ethical theory depends on 4 working principles and 6 fundamental principles.
                    1. 4 WORKING PRINCIPLES: *Pragmatism *Relativism *Positivism *Personalism
                      1. 6 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES: *Love (agape) is the only absolute. *Love is self giving love. *Justice will follow from love. *Love has no favourites. *Love must be the final end, not a means to an end. *The loving thing to do will depend on the situation.
                        1. STRENGTHS: *It's easy to understand and can be continually updated. *It's flexible and take many situations into account. *Focuses on humans and concern for others - agape. *Allows people to take responsibility for their own decisions and decide what is right and wrong.
                          1. WEAKNESSES: *Was condemned in 1952 by Pope Pius XII who said it was wrong to make decisions based on individual circumstances if these went against the Church and the Bible. *It is not possible to determine the consequences of actions.
                          2. REASONS AND WEAKNESSES OF RELATIVISM
                            1. REASONS: *Decline of religious authority. *Greater understanding of other cultures. *Unacceptable effects of interfering with other cultures. *Influence of metaethical analysis. *Development of competing theories.
                              1. WEAKNESSES: *Implies that there can be no real evaluation or criticism of practices such as witch burning. *Doesn't allow societies to progress. *Gives little reason for behaving morally. *Some statements are true absolutely - just because cultures vary, doesn't mean there's no objective 'good'.
                              2. ETHICAL ABSOLUTISM
                                1. Command that is true for all the time in all situations.
                                  1. Both ethical relativists and absolutists would say it's not alright to kill someone for no reason. If we assume that it was a doctor killing one patient to save another they would still say it's not acceptable. However if we consider killing one person to save many lives, relativists would say it's alright but absolutists would disagree. For a theist, the absolute laws come from God. For an atheist or agnostic, it's a priori in nature. Never taught by parents not to sleep with family members- just know not to.
                                    1. Moral absolutism is when there is only one correct answer to every moral problem. Today many Chrisitans believe there is a hierachy of absolutes - "Graded Absolutes"
                                      1. NORMATIVE ABSOLUTISM - Natural law and Kantian Ethics.
                                        1. STRENGTHS: *Gives a fixed ethical code. *Cultures can judge wrong actions of others and then make a judgement. *Can support universal laws such as human rights. *May often be seen as an impossible ideal.
                                          1. WEAKNESSES: *Doesn't take the circumstances of each situtaion into account. *Seems intolerant of cultural diversity. *All sources of morality are open to human interpretation.
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