| | So we pick up where we left off. We're examining the question: "Is there such a thing as absolute morals?"
The story.
Two people. Let's call them Bob and Jim, because most philosophy stuff does like "Person A and Person B" and I got tired of it. Bob approaches Jim and says: "Hey man, you've gotta stop swearing all the time. Swearing is wrong." Jim replies: "Dude, don't force your morals on me. If you think swearing's bad that's your thing, but don't tell me what to do."
The response.
Have you ever heard this before? I know I have. I hear it from Christians and non-Christians alike. Let's examine such a response. Does Jim have some morals? Sure. He has a personal belief that we should not impose personal beliefs on others. Yet what is he doing? He's forcing his belief on Bob by reacting in the manner that he does. If Jim truly believed that morals are relative, then he wouldn't be so upset about his moral belief being violated because he'd realize that Bob was only doing what is right by his morality.
Trying to skirt around the truth that absolute truth and absolute morals exist yields nothing but contradictions. Here's an awesome quote taken from a resource that I used in researching absolutism (I'll give my sources at the end of this whole thing):
A relativist maintains that everyone should be able to believe and do whatever he wants. Of course, this view is emotionally satisfying, until that person comes home to find his house has been robbed, or someone seeks to hurt him, or someone cuts in front of him in line. No relativist will come home to find his house robbed and say, "Oh, how wonderful that the burglar was able to fulfill his view of reality by robbing my house. Who am I to impose my view of right and wrong on this wonderful burglar?" Quite the contrary, the relativist will feel violated just like anyone else. And then, of course, it's OK for him to be a relativist, as long as the "system" acts in an absolutist way by protecting his "unalienable rights."
Another Conclusion.
So by now, hopefully you see that there is such a thing as absolute morality. If you can't tell, I'm constructing an argument, a thesis, and so I want to make sure that we're clear on the basics. If this isn't enough, comment and post and we'll chat it up.
Next, we'll examine the source of morality for both Christian and non-Christian audiences. Stay tuned!
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| | Posted 3/16/2007 12:22 PM - 19 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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