Moral Relativism and Absolutism Flashcards
How does Plato’s philosophy relate to absolutism?
Plato believes that the goodness of life itself exists in a higher reality - the form of he good existing in the realm of he forms.
This highlights that ethical normals are independent of human existence
What is absolutism and what kind of theory is it?
How?
Ethical absolute = a universal command that is true for all time and all situations
Certain actions are INTRINSICALLY right or wrong
Ethical norms exist independently of human existence
DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY: focuses on the rightness and wrongness of an action itself, regardless of the outcome
What do absolutists argue?
That it is ILLOGICAL for and ethical principle to be right and wrong at the same time
All human must share a COMMON IN ATE UNDERSTANDING of morals
Where does a theist derive absolute laws from?
The omniscient goodness of God
10 commandments
Morals of Jesus
Where does and agnostic or atheist derive absolute law beliefs from?
They believe that Absolute morals come from a PRIORI NATURE
E.g SOCRATES: Gods morality is built within us (natural moral law)
What is graded absolutism?
The Christian belief that absolute rules follow a ‘graded hierarchy’ which solves the contradiction between conflicting moral commands
What is relativism?
The philosophy and theory that truths or morals are NOT UNiVERSAL and morality is SUBJECTIVE/relative to the individuals and SITUATIONS involved
What kind of theory is relativism?
TELEOLOGICAL
Consequences of an action determine what is right or wrong.
Concerned with the end result
What did greek philosopher Protagoras say?
What ethical system does it support?
“Man is the measure of all things”
Meaning: it is up to an individual to interpret his own morality.
It supports SUBJECTIVE RELATIVISM
What is subjective relativism?
Something is good or bad relative to our perspective
Each persons values are subjective
Values cannot be judged objectively
