Relativism Vs. Absolutism - Ethical Viewpoints in Motion

Relativism and absolutism are only two of the many ethical viewpoints studied by ethicists today. Pope Benedict XVI brought up many issues revolving around these two viewpoints during his time as Pope. He never strictly used the term "relativism" but he did "fault modern people for missing the transcendent meaning of love and instead caring for one another just because we feel like it" (Dacey, 2006). The ideas behind relativism may be misleading or confusing to some, but are essential to any worldview, including the pope's (Dacey, 2006).

Pope Benedict worries that a person's individual autonomy has been lifted and valued above moral absolutes. Most people understand that lying is wrong and considered unethical, but we also take a stand that lying in order to prevent harm or evil can be justified (Dacey, 2006). Just because lying is accepted in that situation does not make it ok to lie, in the same way that self defense does not make it ok to do harm unto others in any other situation than when a person feels their life is being threatened. These are relativist views because there is no absolute. There are stipulations for different circumstances.

Pope Benedict has used relativist viewpoints to describe both standards that are not absolute and standards of uncertainty. He recognizes fallibility as the idea that even a solid belief is not beyond question (Dacey, 2006). "Accepting that we are fallible doesn't keep us from thinking that we're right. It just keeps us from thinking we couldn't possibly be wrong. And that's a good thing," (Dacey, 2006). This theory allows us to modify our beliefs when new information is brought to our attention without feeling like we were completely wrong. Even the church has been known to correct itself (Dacey, 2006).

Pope Benedict also recognizes relativism to include individual autonomy, equal rights, and freedom of conscience as the values of Liberalism (Dacey, 2006). Essentially, his view of Liberalism holds that the way that we live is up to us, within limits. It does not mean that all values are equal, such as relativism states. "It entails that we tolerate even claims that we doubt, not that we doubt even the claims of tolerance," (Dacey, 2006). When applying relativism to the ideas of the church, it is used to please the common good in such that the best answer to any problem is that in which gives the most goodness to the most amount of people affected.

When I ran across this article I instantly recognized many of the principles and ideas that we studied in chapter one through four. Ethical relativism is the idea that there is no one correct set of rules or obligations and they can change at any time given different circumstances (Wall, 2003). Different relativist views arise from different upbringings, cultures, morals and views of people in differing societies. Because there are so many different ways we can arrive at an answer to a problem based on our own mental beliefs, no one view is better than another (Wall, 2003). Absolutism is the exact opposite of relativism in that it claims that there is one moral set of ideals that are absolute for all cases at all times (Wall, 2003).

I tend to be a relativist when it comes to abortion. I believe that abortion is wrong in most cases, but if it is done to save the mother's life then I can see the logic behind it. My reasoning behind this is that the fetus/baby is an innocent party in the whole situation and there is no reason to end its life. There are other options. There are so many couples who cannot have children and would love to adopt. On the other hand, someone else may be an absolutist and think that abortion is wrong in all cases and believes in the right to life at all times without question.

In the first week's discussion of absolutism I brought up my viewpoint of marriage. I do not believe there is any justifiable reason to cheat on your spouse once you have committed yourself to each other and exchanged vows. There are too many marriages that end in divorce because of a cheating spouse. It is so hurtful and wrong to put your spouse through the emotional pain of cheating on them. I personally would rather have my spouse leave me rather than cheat on me.

In response to my view on marriage, someone brought up the case of open marriages. How does this apply to an open marriage where the couple in question takes a vow to each other but also knows going into the marriage that there may be other people? I personally could not fathom an open marriage, but there are people out there that enjoy that lifestyle. In this case, they would take a relativist viewpoint on marriage versus my absolutist viewpoint.

Pope Benedict worried about individual autonomy and where it would lead people. In our textbook, Kant's view of autonomy was that in which we freely choose our own rules and follow them with respect to those rules (Wall, 2003). We are autonomous creatures, unlike animals which basically live off internal instinct to survive. We create our own paths and make our own decisions. We have the freedom to do what we wish as long as we are of sound mind and our actions do not cause harm to others. We cannot, however, step over our boundaries and interfere with someone who we think is making the wrong decisions unless they are bringing harm upon others (Wall, 2003). This shows our ability to make choices and act on our own freewill. Wall puts it perfectly when he says, "In a free and open society, we are required to allow rational people to make even what we consider to be poor decisions. We cannot force people to do what we think is good for them."

References

Dacey, Austin. (Feb 3, 2006)Believing in Doubt.(Editorial Desk). In The New York Times,

pA23(L).Retrieved February 26, 2006, from InfoTrac Custom Newspapers via Thomson Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=SPN.SP02&docId=A141606830&source=gale&userGroupName=lom_falconbaker&version=1.0.

Wall, T. (2003). Thinking critically about moral problems. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning.