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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Definitions of Morality
Message-ID: <1358@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Aug-85 10:42:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1358
Posted: Fri Aug 23 10:42:46 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 26-Aug-85 00:52:54 EDT
References: <374@aero.ARPA>
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 30

Here's a curious fact which I came upon yesterday.  But first let we define
a couple of terms:

MORAL ABSOLUTE - A principle concerning morality which is absolutely true,
                 regardless of which moral system you subscribe to.

(not to be confused with absolute morals)

ABSOLUTE MORAL RELATIVISM - the idea that it is impossible to conclude that
                any particular moral system is correct.

(as compared to ordinary moral relativism, which holds that it is impossible
 within any particular moral system to judge that another is incorrect)

The curious fact is, absolute moral relativism is self-contradictory, because
it states a moral absolute.

Some moral systems do in fact state that it can be determined that they are
correct and others are wrong.  Some simply state that it can be determined
that certain morals are always incorrect.  According to absolute moral
relativism, however, such conclusions are incorrect.  This means that this
principle that you cannot determine incorrectness is a moral absolute, and
that one can therefore determine outside of any particular system that
a particular system is incorrect, contrary to absolute moral relativism.
Hence, absolute moral relativism cannot be correct.  (Incidentally, this
would seem to imply that there are moral absolutes, since the denial of
this leads to the same contradiction.)

  Charley Wingate   umcp-cs!mangoe