Moral Relativism
At first glance, moral relativism appears to be an appealing, well though out philosophical view; the truth of moral judgments is relative to the judging subject or community. The basic definition of moral relativism is that all moral points of view are equally valid; no single person's morals are any more right or wrong than any other person's. As you look closer at the points that moral relativists use to justify their claims, you can plainly see that there are, more often than not, viable objections that can be made against the moral relativist's arguments. Moral, or ethical, relativism is made up of two types of relativism: cultural and individual relativism. Cultural relativism says that right and wrong, good and evil, are relative to a culture, to a way of life that is practiced by a whole group of people. Individual relativism says that right and wrong, good and evil, are relative to the preferences of an individual. Cultural and individual relativism support the claim that there are no "universal moral truths" in the world. Universal moral truths are morals that apply to all societies and cultures. There are three universal moral truths that James Rachels says apply to all societies: we should c
I believe that abortion is wrong in the way that China is using it to control population growth. It goes against Rachels' moral truth and it is just wrong. I understand that China is over flowing with people, but to tell people to kill their own children is cruel and absurd. Rachels states that we should not kill children. I believe that it is wrong because killing children, or aborting them, is wrong when you are using it as a means of population control. There are so many other ways of controlling population besides forced abortion, such as birth control, condoms, adoption, or preaching abstinence. The government has forced its people to murder their own children instead of trying to find ways to keep women from getting impregnated. One of the most cherished beliefs of conservatives relies on the idea that morals are absolute. If an act is wrong, they believe, it is wrong for all time; there are no exceptions. This sort of absolutism usually arises from the belief that the law of God cannot be broken under any circumstances. The church justifies this opinion by saying that humans are not supposed to wrestle with moral dilemmas, but to apply these revealed truths to every situation and problem in life. There are contradictions to this view scattered throughout the Bible; God gave Israel the Ten Commandments forbidding certain acts, but then he also ordered Israel to carry out those very acts against her enemies. Another example is that slavery and war were not condemned as evil in and of themselves; Christian scholars and popes wrote entire libraries on what constituted as "just and unjust slavery" and "just and unjust war." Moral absolutism is very appealing to religious leaders because it gives supreme power to the highest leaders of the Church. Suppose there is a young girl, between the ages of 13-16, that becomes pregnant and it is not in the best interest of the girl, or the unborn child, to have the baby, then abortion would be a justifiable solution to the problem. Many people would say that the girl should go through with the pregnancy and give the child up for adoption, but many people fail to realize that the adoption process in America or anywhere else for that matter is not a very good system. It is also very unsafe for young teenage girls to have children; many often have complications that result in death. Many children are placed in orphanages where they are not properly taken care of or adopted by people who abuse and neglect the child. Many children will spend most of their lives in and out of foster homes, allowing for no communication and people skills to develop. Some foster parents sign up for the job just to earn extra income, they don't really care for the children at all, and they are just used as a means to get money. The girl could, if she decided to have the baby, drop out of school; but then where would the mother and the baby be if the mother had no diploma from having to drop out? I think that I have justified abortion to a certain extent. I do not believe, though, that abortion is a justified mean of birth control for people who practice unsafe sex. The argument that morals are absolute despite their contest is inconsistent with Christian history and practices. The problems with this argument are clearly represented in the Christian Crusades. During the Crus
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Approximate Word count = 2255
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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