October 6, 2000    
begin

write

look

learn

find

Should morality be relative or absolute?

Other than the idea that killing another human is wrong. Most moral stances are abolutely relative. Otherwise, us westerners are completely immoral for eating beef since the Hindus feel this is this case. Maybe use meateaters will come to the same conclusion at some point, but that is just a support that morality is relative to a specific time and place.

Felicia, 34
Lowell
, MA

What morality "should" be is meaningless. What morality is.....that's a complicated question with many complicated answers.

Jill, 59
Saylorsburg
, PA

Morality - It's black and white. Either it is right or it is wrong. There should be no gray areas. Otherwise you wind up in the culture that we now have. You are never wrong, you had a bad childhood, you were a victim of circumstances, off your meds that day. You wind up rationalizing everything and there is no clear answer to anything. I believe in the Bible for my morality.

Janet, 42
E. Brunswick
, NJ

Anyone with absolute morality is either a saint or a lunatic. There's no way that you can't or won't compromise on something. What if you believe that murder is wrong, always, but someone is trying to kill your loved one(s) and the only way to save him, her, or them is to shoot the killer? That's what I thought.

Amy, 23
New Orleans
, LA

I'm gonna have to go with relative, BUT relative morality has to go with some kind of intelligence. People who are going to act like idiots should have definite moral rules to keep them from doing too much stupid stuff. . .That was a sort of snobbish and presumptive thing to say, I guess, but oh well.

Karen, 21
Marshelltown/Ames
, IA

Unless it is illergal or hurts someone, relative, because there are too many shades of gray to think in absolutes.

Ernest, 29
Washington
, DC

Absolute

Stephanie, 24
TX

absolute

Savannah

Absolute

Jami, 27
Lowell
, MA

Absolute

Jeremy, 13
Highlands Ranch
, CO

Relative. The only absolute found in all cultures is the Golden Rule, with minor variations in phrasing.

Jane, 60
West Linn
, OR

Well, let's see. Absolute morality would mean everyone follows the same rules, thinks the same way, understands each other easier.  Relative morality leaves room for one person to think another acts immoral due to a lack of understanding or tolerance. So maybe I lean towards absolute morality.

But if we were to achieve absolute morality, then we would no longer need to expend extra effort understanding others' motives and reasoning. That part of our brains would lapse into sloth and disuse. Then what happens if extra-terrestrial live shows up on the planet one day? Will we be capable of open-minded thought?

Also, if if we become too similar and predictable and plain, we may dissappear while we languish in our own boredom. To borrow from some Michael Crichton philosophy (which no doubt was derived from mathematicians and philosophers), if we are not living on the edge of chaos, we will go extinct. Living on the edge keeps things in a constant state of uproar, change, adaptation. Go over the edge and you die, slip back into blandness and you stop living.

So I guess absolute morality has its appeal, but I don't think it would work.

Jesse, 24
Bowie
, MD

It's relative whether you want it to be or not. And each person's idea of absolution is different, so of course it's relative!

Firelady, 22
Dallas
, TX

relative. . . most of the time. . .I know sin for myself when I see, hear or smell it. . .

mothmc, 36
Los Angeles
, CA

Absolute. Absolutely.

Reba, 50
Rockville
, MD

maybe

Anthony, 25
Baton Rouge
, LA

Relative for most issues.  Absolute for issues dealing with human life: all humanity deserve Life, Food, and Shelter.

Laura, 35
Lowell
, MA

relative. I don't believe anything can be absolute.

Angela, 16
Aiken
, SC

Yesterday / Tomorrow