Are ethics and morals universal and unchanging or are they culturally relative, changing and man-made?
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Morocco (
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November 15th, 2015
Ethics are not black-and-white I find it hard to believe that ethics are universal and unchanging, if there is an objective morality, we would need a source, and arguably that has never been confirmed. The divine command theory and Kant’s Categorical Imperative have been used by advocates of universal ethics, both of which have their flaws. Time has also played a role in ethics; what ancient cultures practiced in the past are now considered by the majority to be immoral. They are definitely man made and culturally relative, also, I think that they don’t change, they evolve with time. I think the core things are pretty universal, and other specifics are man-made. There are people who think that ethics and morals don’t really exist. All you have to do is push in front of them in a line and they immediately prove they don’t really believe their own rhetoric.
And you, how do you feel about that? What do you think about it? Explain your views.
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3 Answers
The latter. For one thing, ethics and morals are personal. I have heard career criminals say indignantly, “Sure, I’m a thief, but I would never kill someone.”
They are influenced by all sorts of things. Cultural, legal, religious.
But a basic code that most people agree on is possible.
They are not only not universal and unchanging on a world-wide scope, they are not universal and very much subject to change on a personal level.
I think though that you have to define the source of morality and ethics. Are those externally imposed (by religion) or are they internally imposed (by the person’s own internally learned values)? I believe that there is a huge gulf between public morality (or professing to same) and personal morals and ethics.
Further, them must evolve over time, as you noted, because the challenges to mankind – and changes in science, technology, and our understanding of them – changes over time.
Otherwise, we would have the bizarre situation where, for example, a religious group could be trying to impose the values of 7th century Islam on people in the 21st century.
Completely man made and there is a system of ethics & morals for every flavor of culture.
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