The Truth of Ethics 2

An understanding and acceptance of absolute truth is necessary for a proper view of ethics.  If there is any truth claim that can be held absolute it would suffice that, if there is one then there are possibly more than one.  To what extent does this go?  We know that not every claim can be correct because that is logically unacceptable.

But is there a moral law?  Does this thing referred to by Christian’s and other theists known as conscience actually exist?  From my previous explanation in Truth of Ethics 1, I feel that a case for the existence of right and wrong is not easily dismissed.  So what does this have to do with ethics?  Simply put, motivation.

Is hardness part of a rock or is a description?  Is it part of the rock’s nature or is it a way that we as humans can relate to it?  What makes the rock hard?  Is the culprit the environment of a rock, how we feel towards it, or is it the makeup of the rock.  Not all rocks are hard.  Some, like limestone, can be soft, porous, or anything in between.

It is the same way with our actions.  Our actions can be good or bad.  The determination of that outcome is based on motivation.  Just as the rock has it’s makeup, our decisions have their own genesis.  When we make a decision based on an impure motivation it corrupts the action.  This affects all decisions, large and small.

Ethics is not like hardness, however, in as much that it is not based on a relative concept of understanding but rather an appeal for absolute truth in the area of morality.  Existentialists will argue against this and rally around the premise that perception equals reality.  While the statement, “There are no absolutes,” is a self-refuting claim, the issue of relativity in the area of morality is much more subversive.

Only by examining the truth claims of others and of our own minds can we truly have an epistemology worth pursuing.  We don’t have to agree with everyone, nor will we.  But fairly examining that which claims to be true with discernment, wisdom, and caution is honorable.  Ethics is an area in which I feel that there can be no compromise.  There is right and wrong and there is our inability to distinguish from the two.