You don't have to read my thoughts, but tell me, is morality relative, objective..?

Morality = principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. However, societies and cultures have their own standards of morality, and thus morality becomes relative. For instance, some cultures may believe that smoking is immoral, while others may be totally fine with it. Moral relativism is the idea that because of this there is no objective basis for morality.

My belief is that morality is only relative to a limited extent, and that the majority opinion of a particular action in question overrides the opinion of the minority. So if in one culture you are hurting people because of x tradition or practice you deem ethical, it is not ethnocentric to say this is immoral if you're hurting innocent people, esp against their will.

I believe that there are certain personality traits that are immoral such as selfishness, greed, and sadism. I believe people don't always know or understand their immorality.

We have an interesting discussion when we bring up the death penalty. So if you are hurting people but you think it is for a good cause (death penalty), we have a weird gray area division even in my country the conclusion is very polarized. And furthermore, if you are hurting people because you are selfish and have a petty reason, it is your moral claim vs everyone else, and you're overruled.

Nihilists believe that there is no such thing as objective truth, so to them there is no degree of objective morality at all. So according to nihilism, even opinion of vast majorities don't matter. So a nihilist might say something like "There is no intrinsic value or purpose of life or being, therefore it's not even clear whether death is bad or good."

The nihilist hardly recognizes that 'wrong' is even possible because he or she shuns value itself. But there is a sense of a universal morality across our cultures that we all for the most part seem to agree on, such as that rape, murder, and theft are generally immoral.

When we look at morality thru the nihilist perspective, some of us might want to ask questions such as what the heck does morality truly mean?? So we have moral relativism, moral objectivism, as well as moral absence. What is YOUR opinion on morality? Do you believe that morality can be objective? *Raises hand* Or is it totally relative, or even non-existent? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and DON'T FORGET TO HIT DAT LIKE BUTTON AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE MEGA PICHU CONTENT.

Edited 10/27/2018 05:08:21

define right/good, bad/wrong

Okay, I'm a nihilist and I do believe that everything that happens doesn't matter. Any bad we do and humiliation we suffer will be forgotten. Humanity will cease to exist at some point. But before we do, we get to experience ourselves and the world around us, we get to experience feelings, we get to experience being with each other.
We have no idea what universe is and how it came into existence but we can try to find some answers. We get one shot of life so why not enjoy it and let others enjoy it. That's why the most intelligent people between us made rules for everyone. We ourselves made some sets of moral rules to let everyone live happily. Morality exists and the people who follow it are considered good and the people who deny it and don't follow are considered bad and punished if it's crime.

There is no rational basis for morality.

El-sin claims "we have no idea what the universe is" then proceeds to make universal truth claims without realizing the contradiction. If I can *know* intuitively that "we get one shot of life" and "any bad we do and humiliation we suffer will be forgotten" then I can also *know* intuitively that, for example, the Nietzschean eternal-return is true and existence is essentially a perpetual cycle.

A true moral system is presupposed by a metaphysical understanding of man. There is no morality in the naturalist conception of the world because everything that happens is just part of the big machine, what happens is inevitable and everything is bound to be replaced by the random flux. All decisions you make are the result of random bouncing of neurons, there is no person in the metaphysical sense making informed decisions, so no one is in their right mind to be a moral or immoral actor.

Edited 10/28/2018 18:38:32

the eternal return is not an actual return..... it's an existential repetition eternally

non sequitur

how very freshman of you

Caring what others think about you has a huge bit to do with what we find moral and immoral I think, but the way I see it, if we are doing harm to others intentionally then we are 'bad' people, and we won't receive much respect from others as a result of it. This can hamper a person's self-esteem and discourage them from doing certain things that societies deems as inappropriate, but there are some who don't care what people think and won't allow that to stop them. I think that to be a true nihilist or existentialist you have to learn to not give a shit what society thinks because their values are their own, not yours, and if no value system is objective, then there is no use letting other opinions affect you emotionally.

"define right/good, bad/wrong"

In basic terms, improving the quality of life vs diminishing the quality of life I guess?


"Okay, I'm a nihilist and I do believe that everything that happens doesn't matter. Any bad we do and humiliation we suffer will be forgotten. Humanity will cease to exist at some point. But before we do, we get to experience ourselves and the world around us, we get to experience feelings, we get to experience being with each other.
We have no idea what universe is and how it came into existence but we can try to find some answers. We get one shot of life so why not enjoy it and let others enjoy it."

So you believe that people should enjoy their lives.

But if you are causing harm to people, then you are reducing the quality of that person's life, even if it is for a transient period. So how can everything that happens not matter? Doesn't that contradict a little bit?

But if you are causing harm to people, then you are reducing the quality of that person's life, even if it's for a transient period.

Did I say that we should enjoy our lives by hurting others or their feelings?

So how can everything that happens not matter?

Everything that happens will matter as long a person stays alive. When a person dies everything will stop mattering him.
Same when humanity meets it's end no one will stay alive to care about what you did in past.

we agree on that :)

To believe nothing matters once you're dead is wrong. You either
A) Don't have children
B) Lack of perspective

You have to build for future generations. You will still have an impact, even after you're dead. Some people believe your impact can be much larger when you are dead.

And this doesn't even touch on the subject of a possible afterlife, or judgement. Maybe it is crazy to think there is an afterlife, but to me, it seems more crazy that there aren't universal consequences to actions, even if it happens after death.

Sora that is a good point, especially about the children. If you are important in other people's lives you can have a lasting impact on them, but at the same time it is also true that we all die so it is a fair perspective when nihilists say nothing matters in the end, even tho I don't share that particular perspective.

Am existentialist and we are different from nihilists, yes

Edited 10/30/2018 14:10:11