Are There Any Moral Absolutes - 550 Words

Are There Any Moral Absolutes? (Essay Sample) Content: Are there Any Moral Absolutes? Name Institution Are There Any Moral Absolutes? Whether you are discussing religion, politics or just behavior in general, it wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be long until the topic of right and wrong are brought up. Telling someone or a group of people that they canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do something because it is morally wrong implies that there is some sort of universal standard, or a moral absolute. It is becoming quite popular in recent years for people to suggest that there actually arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t any moral absolutes and that peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s definition of what is right and what is wrong is generally just their option, which is formed by society and other factors. While this may sound nice in theory, it really doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t stand up to scrutiny very well. In order to prove that there are moral absolutes, one need only find one example of something that is morally wrong in every instance no matter what. The easiest way to do this is to look at extreme examples such as the fact that it is always morally wrong to torture innocent children just for fun. Even if there is someone who is a sociopath and wants to do this type of thing, they should not be permitted to in any case because it is a moral absolute that it is wrong (Accetti, 2015). Looking at it from the opposite side, those who believe there are no moral absolutes must concede that the torture of innocent children for fun is not morally wrong, just something they donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like and donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want permitted. When opponents of the idea of moral absolutes debate this point they often say that moral absolutes donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t exist because people from different times or cultures would have a different list of moral absolutes. Most people in Western society today, for example, would say that slavery is wrong in every case. Those who lived in the same area just a couple hundred years ago, however, would not agree. If anything, however, this proves that there are moral absolutes. When we criticize slave owners of the past we donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t say that they simply had an incorrect opinion. We say that what they did was wrong. Even if they are not held completely culpable because of the common beliefs of the time, they were still acting immorally (Kellenberger, 2008). One of the most popular arguments for moral absolutes would be to ask whether it is morally wrong to believe that there are moral absolutes, and make laws to enforce them. If someone says that it is wrong, then they have just shown that there is at least one moral...