Moral Absolutism Essay

Moral absolutism is the concept that certain moral values will remain morally correct and morally incorrect (intrinsically right and wrong) for all time and for all cultures. An ideology of things remain black and white, there is simply no room for grey area.For example, the act of thievery is wrong for all cultures and for all time, it is something as humans have learnt to develop the knowledge that it is immoral throughout our life - thus we have learnt that the act of stealing is wrong. There is nothing that can possibly justify an action that is intrinsically wrong even if the act has been committed for the reason of compassion towards other individuals. According to moral absolutists, morality is inherent, so it can be implied a fundamental

For example, the death penalty, slavery, war, rape and abuse will always be considered wrong for moral absolutists. Without this baseline of morality, humans would not have created the UN Declaration of Human Rights so basic human rights must be recognised. A moral absolutist may argue that without this intrinsic sense of morality atrocities such as genocide which breached an unbelievably high number of human rights of victims whose persecution could have been unprotected if the UN Declaration of Human Rights did not exist which wouldn’t have existed without moral absolutism. Unlike moral relativism, absolutism is easier to apply in real life so a clear judicial system and simple laws can be formed without the ‘wishy-washy’ nature of relativism. Theoretically-speaking, for some people, moral relativism is sound however, practically speaking it is far too convoluted for realistic means. Also, in certain situations in life people seem to have an instinctively absolutist approach towards certain things – as if there is an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong for example, cruelty towards a disabled person – you are aware that it is wrong to harm a vulnerable