When people say that morality is relative to culture, what do they mean? What is my culture? Americans? Pennsylvanians? College students? Democrats? Atheists? I belong to all these groups, but I do not identify myself with them. When faced with a moral question, I don't ask myself, what should a good liberal do in this situation?
If morality is relative to culture, and I do not have a clearly defined culture, does it follow that I do not have a clearly defined morality?
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
When people say that morality is relative to culture, what do they mean? What is my culture? Americans? Pennsylvanians? College students? Democrats? Atheists? I belong to all these groups, but I do not identify myself with them ... [yada yada yada]
Or do you think morality is relative to something other than culture? If so, what? I know there are people who think that morality is unique to each individual, and that you therefore can't judge other people's morality. I think that's absurd, myself.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Morality is one of those concepts that we all have an accepted understanding of, but the moment you try to define it in any way, the meaning is hard to capture.
Defining morality in such a way as to gain general agreement is, at best, difficult. At worst, it is impossible, at least in part because any definition precise enough to be useful is likely to offend proponents of one moral theory or another.
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Make poverty history.
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Morality is one of those concepts that we all have an accepted understanding of, but the moment you try to define it in any way, the meaning is hard to capture.
I agree. It is hard to really explain how morality works. But yet we are still aware of it and its prescence in our daily lives.
__________________ "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
-Star Wars
storm> excellent observation. morality is a concept that is composed of absolute and relative qualities. as the collective human family, morality is absolute in the sense that we all have a basic sense of it. from that point, morality splinters innumerbly. morality is relative in the way that societies grow, learn, pass down their belief systems, ways of life, and all other patterns.
it is incorrect to say that morality is either absolute or relative, because it is both.
hockey> thank you for referencing lao tzu. if you ever have the opportunity to research or study the belief system he instituted, seize it. it is always beneficial to expand your mind and learn new ways to look at life.
madsci
hip hop purist
__________________ "...I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense..."
Thomas Paine
in your case your culture is american (since you are a united states citizen) I know it sounds weird greg it's pretty hard to explain but basicaly it comes down to laws and rights
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Does that mean that I, a black guy living in a slum, an Asian immigrant, and a billionair living in a mansion all have the same culture? Seems pretty iffy to me.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
True that morality needs no justification, surely it should come naturally?
Nor should views be forced onto other people, but can they not be encouraged to see things from a different perspective?
I believe it is ingrained in our nature to be ethical, empathy and understanding are a big part of humanity, therefore immoral actions are learnt, whereas morality is there to begin with.
If by political system you mean...yes! A system is composed of members. As long as the members of a particular system are provided with means to survive is a good thing. Of course there is got to be reasonable rations for all member equally.
For the benefit of the system. By obeying the laws and doing our duties there shouldn't be reasons to commit inmoral acts. If the commonwealth is good shape there shouldn't be reasons for crime, poverty, and corruption.
Not persuasition (sp?), but obidence to the laws of the state.
For me a moral citizen concerns himself with the laws of the state. If the laws are inmoral, it is the citizen resposibility to question them.
I agree, members need the means to create and maintain harmony.
Does it really boil down entirely to the commonwealth? Like I said previously, it should come naturally to us not to commit immoral acts, obviously we learn right from wrong as we grow, but don't we all start as innocents?
True, but it doesn't seem to be working that way. How much say do citizens really have, whether laws are moral or not.......
KMC Community Forums
Apr 7th, 2004 04:24 PM
