Essay on The Ethical Dilemma of Defining Moral Absolutes

When our ancestors began to develop cognitive thought, they began to compare themselves to one another in an attempt to decide what is morally permissible behavior, and what is not. Although, our global community has grown to be very large, and culturally diverse these same moral debates still linger in today’s society. Fundamentalist believe that there are absolute moral codes that apply to all societies. Inherently the fundamentalist view sounds like an ideal view that all cultures should respect. However, there are flaws in the fundamentalist views, who decides what is morally permissible and what is not. This is where the moral relativist view comes into play in an attempt to further define moral guidelines that are relative to†¦show more content†¦This type of moral absolutism leads to oppression and an inability to progress into a more culturally diverse society. Fuller explains the opposition as relativism which, defines morals based on cultural views and states that nothing is an absolute in terms of morality. Furthermore, living in a world without absolutes can be tedious task that could lead to a dysfunctional society. In light of these insights, he comes to the conclusion that the opposition is not relativism, but rather model building (Fuller). This revelation brings some insight into how a society should develop its cultural norms and values. The more practical model building theory still maintains some moral absolutes, but allows some morals to be shaped and molded to become more inclusive of various cultures and beliefs. Peter Berger takes a more cynical view of fundamentalism and relativism, he claims that fundamentalism causes civil discourse. Whereas, relativism is bad because it claims that there is no absolute morals; therefore, everything can be permissible relative only to a cultures perceptions. He concludes that there is a connection between the two views because there is a little of each within both moral perspectives (Berger). His theories seem to be true, however, if a fundamentalist can be a relativist under certain conditions, then byShow MoreRelatedThe Ethics Of The Finance Industry1376 Words   |  6 Pageswhere one has to consider not only the ramifications of one’s ethics, but also how ethical one’s decision is as a whole. In my career, I have never been put in an ethical dilemma, but at some juncture in my career in the finance industry, it is very possible I will. 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