Wow, I go away for a few days and this thread explodes. Forgive me for raising a rather old point again, then.
timberlandko wrote:timberlandko wrote:Moral relativism and ... situational ethics equal ... intellectual ... bankruptcy
watchmaker's guidedog wrote:I disagree. What proof do you have for this?
It goes to the nature of truth. A truth either is or is not, an act or thought either is moral or it is not, is ethical or not; else, the paradox of conditional absolute.
Interesting fact, in French a certain combination of syllables means a seal (the animal), in English the same combination of syllables is a vulgar term for fornication. How their meaning is interpreted depends upon who is speaking, who is listening, where they are and thoroughly influenced by cultural values. Certain scientists believe that there are certain universals to language and that some patterns are very common throughout most languages with only a few exceptions.
The situation with morality is almost absolutely identical. Hardly surprising since they are both human brain functions. Yet it is clear that while the system of morality, much as the system of language, is semi-universal to the human race the contents and application of that system vary between individuals and cultures.
I'm afraid that to me, your statement was very illogical. Paraphrased it basically consisted of:
"Proper discussion requires that we phrase things in objective practical terms. Therefore we must all pretend that all subjective things are in fact entirely objective or we are intellectually bankrupt. Rather than merely reducing the subjective things to their objective components, as I did (or attempted) with my analogy above."
Yet perhaps it's only my personal code of logic that leads to this conclusion.
