[Vision2020] Iraq War: Absolutist Or Relativist Ethical Wrong?

[Chasuk]

On 12/30/06, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm not sure, Chas, if you believe in absolutist or relativistic ethics, but in practice in our society it is clear we do apply majority rule to determining very profound ethical principles.  Look at the death penalty, which I also oppose, often defended with polls expressing that the clear majority of the US public support the death penalty.

I'm not certain, either.  Intellectually, I support relativistic
ethics.  Emotionally, I am an absolutist.  Pragmatically, I'm a
combination of both.  There are very few human behaviors about which I
am absolutist: female circumcision (the wrongness thereof) being one
of them.  Generally, I say whatever floats your boat, as long as it is
consensual.  I extend that rule further than anyone I know, yet my
visceral response to some human behaviors makes me a hypocrite.

This is especially complicated because I don't believe in the
existence of the soul, or that any entity has free will, which makes
us meat machines, and therefore culpable for nothing.  That's what I
believe intellectually.  I still want to retaliate against those who
have trespassed against me, or against those whom I love, whether they
are morally at fault or not.  This dialogue becomes moot if what I
believe intellectually is true in an absolute sense, but it also makes
it inescapable.

Interesting discussion, Ted.  The most compelling and simultaneously
frustrating questions in life (from my perspective) are the question
of free will, and question 'what is man?'  I've studied them
continuously for over 30 years, and I'm further from an answer than I
was when I started.

Chas