It's a lot like the abortion debate, with both sides unable to make any philosophical headway on account to reaching different conclusions on the basis of very different premises. When debaters can't even agree on the definition and meaning of "life" and "personhood," it's no surprise that there's no argument on the ethics of abortion. The same applies to political discussions.
But it's not necessarily about absolute versus relative morality. In fact, to view politics as being between absolutist conservatism and relativistic liberalism actually misses the point. Rather, it's about different kinds of ethical reasoning, either one of which can be absolutist or relativist - although it's not all that important to classify them as one or the other. Very few people are actually relativistic, that is, few people would argue without reservation that the truth of moral reasoning is entirely the product of cultural perspective. We like to think that there is some of mathematically-true quality to the logic of ethics. The two different kinds of ethics is the topic of this week's column at The Front Page Online
I Don't Like It! Don't Do It! Or, How to Assassinate Characters
But it's not necessarily about absolute versus relative morality. In fact, to view politics as being between absolutist conservatism and relativistic liberalism actually misses the point. Rather, it's about different kinds of ethical reasoning, either one of which can be absolutist or relativist - although it's not all that important to classify them as one or the other. Very few people are actually relativistic, that is, few people would argue without reservation that the truth of moral reasoning is entirely the product of cultural perspective. We like to think that there is some of mathematically-true quality to the logic of ethics. The two different kinds of ethics is the topic of this week's column at The Front Page Online
I Don't Like It! Don't Do It! Or, How to Assassinate Characters
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