Posted by alexandra_k on March 10, 2005, at 2:44:01
In reply to Everything is relative, posted by alexandra_k on March 9, 2005, at 2:59:18
Ok. The point of this is that most people (these days) seem to want to be subjectivists about ethics. 'It is all relative' people want to say. There is no fact of the matter. Ethics is a matter of personal choice or a matter of what a society or culture deems to be acceptable and unacceptable. Who are we to judge others ethical beliefs?
This position undermines ethics completely.
So, I shall attempt to refute it.Consider the following claims:
1) The earth is not flat
2) There is life on Mars
3) Vanilla ice cream is nicer than chocolate ice cream
4) Abortion is wrong
5) Torturing babies for fun is wrong1) Is a fact. It is true. If people believe that it is false (like they used to) then these people were simply wrong. Believing it did not make it true - nobody literally fell of the end of the earth.
2) We don't yet know whether this is true or false. But there is a fact of the matter. We just have yet to discover what it is.
3) Is not a fact. It is neither true nor false in itself. It is the wrong kind of thing to be a fact. This statement is a matter of personal taste or opinion, it is relative to the person making the claim.Are 4) and 5) facts like 1) and 2) - or are they more like 3)? Is there a fact about whether they are true or false (like there are facts about 1) and 2) - or is it just a matter of personal preference or opinion?
Consider such things as torturing innocent babies or genocide. Are these things morally wrong, or are they acceptable so long as an individual / culture condones them?
If you think there is a fact about these then well done, you are a moral realist.
:-)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:468601
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050305/msgs/469110.html