@Janus1:
thats not true at all. i can say he was a bad guy, based on my standards.
But you have to qualify it with “based on my standards…according to me…the way my beliefs are… etc.” Intuitively though, it just seems like some things are morally repugnant without qualification. Usually involving kids.
and universal arguments always fall apart when you ask WHY something is universally wrong. they either respond “well, uh…because it seems like it”, or “because of God/natural law”. but thats not an answer at all. for one thing, it requires belief in one of those things, which not everyone has, so youve just made a relativist argument yourself.
But you’re left with the equally unappetizing statement: “Well, I guess sometimes it’s all right to torture children for the fun of it.”
thats interesting, because as a christian, there is only one morality that is true for you.
I’m not a Christian. I just like what Christ says. I don’t believe in his divinity or anything.
anyway, this runs into problems, because whats universal? murder, you would probably say. but what constitutes murder? intent? intent with malice? and what else would be considered a universal moral? what if i think abortion is murder, but you dont (i actually dont, and you may, im not sure)? how do we know who is right? we have the same cultural background, so its not a culturally based relative moral, is it? its universal in your system? but who is right? how are we to know?
You can’t prove ethics. In the end, you have to go on intution.
consider murder again. hobbes says that in the state of nature, might literally makes right (im stronger than you, so your food is now mine), and morals are nonexistant, meaning whatever you can do, you should, if you want to. mankind forms societies to elevate themselves from this primal state, so that its possible for people to peacefully coexist, without worrying they will be clubbed to death over their french fries at lunch time.
the notion of murder being wrong arises from this. its a practical consideration taken by man that killing each other is wrong, so they can establish a society. and different cultures formed different rules about what is allowable (many societies do, or did, practice ritualistic slayings). these do not come from some underlying moral principle, but for strictly pragmatic reasons. morality is an artificial construct, not a natural guiding force that determines rightness and wrongness in the world.
I like Locke’s way of thinking. Also, I don’t think the sense of wrongness we feel when hearing about a kid kidnapped and killed is just societal upbringing. But I can’t prove this. I also can’t prove I’m not dreaming either, so what the hell, right?