A Roman statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, quoted, “Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind” (Brainy Quote). Fidelity is an element essential to all successful and happy marriages. A marriage without loyalty, commitment, and trustworthiness is likely to fail. Individuals are able to learn from some of America’s most notable individuals such as Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tiger Woods about how fidelity can lead to shame and humiliation. Their actions may even give adults today the idea that marriage is an inconsequential relationship. Fidelity is a moral absolute of mine because I believe that betrayal and sexual unfaithfulness to one’s spouse is morally wrong and unethical regardless of any given situation or what is declared as okay by the rest of society. These strong values have stemmed from the religious beliefs I was taught as a young child. By first gaining knowledge of the variations between moral absolutism and moral relativism, subsequently viewing my personal morals and values on honesty and faithfulness in marriages, and finally considering my actions if put into special circumstances display how I hold fidelity to my future spouse as a moral absolute.
Diving into the elements of moral absolutism and moral relativism, one must first analyze the definition of each. According to Kennedy Adarkwa, moral absolutism is whether a certain conduct or action is eternally right or always wrong, regardless of how an individual tries to rationalize the idea. What an individual deems as a moral absolute usually stems from the views they learned as a child and have grown into one’s own personal values ...
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...ts how keeping fidelity in my future marriage is important. Marriage is a promise to another individual to be truthful and to honor each other all the days of their lives. I look forward to the day I am able to make this promise and prove to my spouse that fidelity is a moral absolute of my personal ethics.
Works Cited
Cicero, Marcus T. "Nothing Is More Noble, Nothing... at BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. .
Adarkwa, Kennedy. "MORAL ABSOLUTISM VERSUS MORAL RELATIVISM - ModernGhana.com." Ghana HomePage - Breaking News, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. Modern Ghana, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. .
"Fidelity." Def. 1. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 1997. Print.
Claude Fischer the author of Sweet Land of Conformity erroneously makes the claim that, “Our culture consists that if you marry… you are signing an explicit or implicit contract to cooperate and conform.” We feel that as Americans, people tend to stray from this ideal; this is portrayed through divorce and infidelity. In today’s corrupt society, when you marry, you are expected to be loyal based on an, “explicit or implicit contract.” But as time goes by and people become less interested and involved with their partners, we see that this claim is not true. The twisted love triangle that occurred between Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt in 2005 demonstrates an example of infidelity which led to divorce. While Brad Pitt was married
The difference between absolutism and objectivism is that where objectivists believe that there are universal moral principles in which people of all ethical backgrounds and cultures have the validity to follow, absolutists believe that there are underlying values within these beliefs that strictly cannot ever be over-ridden, violated or broken under any circumstances (REF). Furthermore, while absolutists believe in this notion that moral principles are ‘exception-less’, objectivists strongly follow the notion that life is situational and that we as humans have to adapt accordingly to the variables that arise, take them into account, and then make a decision accordingly (REF). Within this introduction of variables applicable to any situation, it is therefore believed that each moral principle must be weighed against each other to produce the best possible outcome, and this is where the overriding of values occurs in an objectivists view, and where an absolutist would disregard these circumstances.
To the Moral Relativist, moral principles are created within cultures and communities, coming from cultural folkways and mores (Gerson Moreno-Riaño, personal communication). These principles are normative only in the culture which created them. Already, the Hippocratic Oath loses its moral weight. For example, in the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion, Justice Blackmun dismissed the centuries-long Hippocratic tradition as merely a “Pythagorean manifesto,” relegating it to minority status (Cameron, 2001). However, relativism does not end here.
Clearly, this essay has shown that the main factors which impact upon adultery being acceptable is being loyal, loving, and forgiveness. Adultery in all reality is actually a terrible thing and is frowned upon, but The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter prove adultery is acceptable in many ways. Life is like a pen, so any mistake made will never be able to be erased or taken back.
(1) Schafer, Karl. "Assessor Relativism and the Problem of Moral Disagreement." The Southern Journal of Philosophy 50.4 (2012): 602-20. Web.
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
Instead of directly answering the question, the author is attempting to understand the different components and details of adultery and sexual immorality. The analysis is evaluating moral and immoral actions and behaviour when it comes to marriage. According to Wasserstrom (1985), “immorality of such things as breaking a promise, deceiving someone,
In recent discussions of marriage and relationships styles, a controversial issue has been non-monogamous relationships in American society. On the one hand, some argue, that monogamy should be considered the only valid option. From this perspective, many people feel that non-monogamous relationships are immoral, and a threat to family and society. On the other hand, however, there is the argument that the expectations monogamy sets f...
Moral relativists believe that no one has the right to judge another individuals choice, decisions, or lifestyle because however they choose to live is right for them. In addition everyone has the right to their own moral beliefs and to impose those beliefs on another individual is wrong. At first glance moral relativism may appear ideal in allowing for individual freedom. After all why shouldn’t each individual be entitled to their own idea of moral values and why should others force their beliefs on anyone else. “American philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), tells us, what is right is only what the individual thinks is right. There is no higher court of appeals, no higher, universal, or absolute moral standard.” (pg 121) Moral relativism means if does not feel wrong than it must be right.
Monogamy should be the most important aspect of a marriage. Western religious leaders and moralists believe only one spouse for life is the highest form of marriage. Some of the most "primitive" peoples are strictly monogamous in their ideals, while some "highly advanced" cultures have moved away from the strict life-long monogamy.
However, cultural relativism is not the most satisfactory moral theory. ‘“Cultural relativism implies that another common place of moral life illusion moral disagreement, and such inconsistencies hint that there may be something amiss with relativism. It seems it conflicts violently with common sense realities of the moral life. The doctrine implies that each person is morally infallible”’ (Vaughn 14).
Rachels, J. (1986). The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. The elements of moral philosophy (pp. 20-36). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
People tend to associate with others who share the same values and morals as they do. People who are unfaithful tend to assume that everyone is, while those who remain faithful tend to believe that extramarital affairs are unusual. Since infidelity takes on several different forms, it is appropriate to consider the fact that many people believe that this sort of behaviour would be considered acceptable.
For Cultural Relativism, it is perfectly normal that something one culture sees as moral, another may see as immoral. There is no connection between them so they are never in conflict relative to their moral beliefs. However, within the context of Ethical Relativism there’s a significant difference. Normally, two cultures will possess varying proportions of the same normal and abnormal habits yet from a cross-cultural standpoint, what is abnormal in one culture can be seen as properly normal in an...
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