A lot of people wonder how to tell if an action is morally right or not. It is a widely discussed topic.
There are two basic beliefs in morality. There is subjective morality, and objective morality (also known as moral universalism and moral absolutism). Subjective morality is where different groups of people have different views on what is right and what is wrong. Objective morality is where everyone has the same beliefs about what is right and what is wrong.
I believe in subjective morality. Think about it. Apparently, the terrorists don't have the same views of whats right and whats wrong as the American government. The terrorist wouldn't just kill people and enforce terror for no reason. They think its the right thing to do. The US government obviously doesn't think that way. They oppose the terrorist's way of thinking. If objective morality is applied into this situation, then it doesn't make sense at all. If the terrorists had the same point of view as Americans, then they probably wouldn't be randomly attacking America.
This is just one example. Subjective morality happens all the time in daily life.
Hm... This post was a little short, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteThe main thing with this post is that you are confusing _intention_ with whether something is really right or wrong.
The question remains: Is there a such thing as an absolute right or wrong?
So the terrorists think that they are doing the right thing. Does that mean that it IS the right thing?
Objective morality says that there is a code of ethics that exists independently of human perception. That means that no matter what society says, what people think, murder is WRONG.
Subjective morality says that morality depends upon society. This means that different code of ethics are equally valid. If John thinks that murder is wrong, but Sam thinks murder is okay, then how do you know who is right? How do you distinguish? Subjective morality says that both John and Sam's point of view are equally valid.
So for instance, a believer in objective morality believes that if there were two people left on earth, and one of them killed the other, than that murder would STILL be wrong, even though there is only one person left in the world who believes his action was justified.
A believer in subjective morality believes that if that happened, and there was only one person left in the world, then morality is dictated by whatever he thinks is right or wrong. Right or wrong is whatever he says it is.
So that's the difference. Objective morality: that there IS a right and wrong. Subjective morality: that whether something is right or wrong DEPENDS.
Everyone agrees that different people have different opinions about right and wrong. But the question of the prompt is whether or not there is a correct version of a code of ethics - whether one person's version of the truth is more correct than another persons.
Anyway, this is a bit of philosophy that you'll learn later in your education, but it's good to keep in mind and think about even now.
Tomorrow's post: Write whatever you want, whether it be one of the 1000 word essays, or any freewrite you feel like. Whatever it is, keep it 400 words or more.
By the way, check out my second comment on the Reagan speech post.
ReplyDelete