The debate between people who think that morality is absolute and those who think it is relative never comes to an end. So, is morality absolute or relative? If you are one of those people who still have not made a decision about it, you may want to check out some answers from Quora users along with their depend of their answers below:
- Abhigya Dwivedi:
“It is relative. You are not born with any moral value or belief, but as you grow up you learn some of them and make some of them according to the environment and incidences in your ife. Two different people raised in different location and culture and having different life patterns can easily differ in their moral values. Although on a broad level there are many beliefs and principles which almost everybody accept and can be considered absolutely (or better say universally) moral.”
- Sam Qwato:
“Short answer: Relative, because of the following reasons.
It varies with cultural heritage.
It varies with era.
Some faith-based moral codes different from faith to faith.
Faith-based morality may differ from secular humanist-based morality.
There are multiple Philosophy of Ethics schools for accessing the morality of actions. An action can be deemed moral under one school, and wrong under another.
- Vinay Varma:
“Nowadays almost everyone seems to believe morality is relative because of multiculturalism, proliferation of examples of moral dilemmas etc. Yet, what is not often reflected upon is that our reactions to human behavior (provided we stay closer to life rather than polemics) are usually the same. Let me take a few examples:
What is your moral reaction to someone you see beating a dog mercilessly, especially if the quantum of violence is more than any irritation the dog could have caused.
How do you feel when you come across stories of people cutting of limbs of kidnapped children to make them beggars?
How do you feel if a million people were to get killed in genocide as in the Rwanda genocide or in famine as in the Somalia famine?
Relative?
We often talk about good bosses and bad bosses, good leaders and bad leaders, good politicians and bad politicians, good colleagues and bad colleagues, good friends and bad friends.
How do we even judge them and often agree in our judgments about people and events, if everything is relative?”
- Siddharth Singh:
“Morality, in it’s completeness, is absoulte. It may appear to be relative when seen from a narrower angle, but in the grand scheme of things, it is absolute.
If everything were relative, there wouldn’t be anything for it to be relative to.
– Bertrand Russell
What is more likely scenario, I believe is – there is a clear grey zone where our judgments can conflict with each other, where the morality of a person or an action can be debated, but the existence of a grey zone between good and evil doesn’t mean evil = good.
So why do we like calling it relative and believe quickly in an argument that states morality is relative?
Because by pointing to ambiguity of values in the grey zone examples, we can quickly absolve ourselves of the duty of conscience and also feel good and intellectual and self-righteous about it.
Morality is absolute, but specific values may enter into conflict in specific situations.
- Madhuri Sen:
“It’s relative by definition: standards of behaviour; principles of right and wrong. Standards and principles are necessarily relative to the the society/ community that frames them and agrees to abide by as the common code. Morals are just more implicit and more unconsciously accepted/followed (by the process of social conditioning) than more explicit standards and principles such as the law. Law enforcement of a country is through the judicial and governance framework. but it is as closely aligned as possible to socially accepted morals standards and principles enforced through social/ economic institutions of that specific country.
Quoting anthropologists, “Ethical Relativism is the theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced. The same action may be morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another.”
Religions try to project these as absolute – to be able govern their followers in a more uniform manner by projecting their standards as being “eternal” having been guiding by a “transcendental unquestionable force” (God). However, what is considered moral conduct in on religion may be considered immoral in another!
Usually the law of the land is it’s “explicit” moral code and accounts broadly for any “absolute morals” that are socially implied. So, as long one can be within legal boundaries (not engage in criminal activity) and manage not to be absolutely socially outcast (as a misfit/ sociopath) – morality even within a single society (especially with vast and highly culturally diverse populations) usually come with a pretty long rope, nothing absolute about it!”
- Vivek Mehta:
“Morality is relative. Morality most often, is defined in terms of ‘harm’, but again, if you see, harm is a very relative term.
Imagine a situation where you are testifying against a criminal. While your action is considered ‘moral’, it does cause ‘harm’ to the criminal. The concept of defining morality, then, becomes uncertain.
Another concept that comes into play is the classification of individuals. We classify people as ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’, thus forming a digital system, where there can only be two possible answers to the question, “Is he moral?”
While in reality, if I ask you, is a rapist equally immoral as a thief? Is a thief as much immoral as a serial killer?, the concept of digitization, then fails. Morality, in fact, is analog, not digital. And the range of acceptance to categorize someone into moral or immoral types is highly relative.
If you want to know more, here’s my blog post titled ‘The Moral Conundrum’:
http://odysseyofyouth.blogspot.in/2013/08/the-moral-conundrum_20.html.”
So, what is your opinion? Do you think morality is absolute or relative? It does not matter how you answer this question as long as you can depend on your answer.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
