Alot of people seem to think that all truth is relative, meaning that there is no absolute truth. There are some problems with that.
<b>Number one</b> : If there is no absolute truth, then relativism is not true.<b>Number two</b> : As (to a relativist) crimes are not truly wrong, it promotes crime and evil.<b>Number three</b> : Relativism is merely a way to try to escape from truth.<b>Number four</b> : Any relativist's games are not truly good. [;)]If anyone can find fault with these, please have a nice, long, philosophical/theological debate.
Good point. Short Blog.
Ok, the idea that relativists hold all truth as relative is not true. The basic laws of physics are true, but not really relative. For example, an object will always fall towards where the net gravitational force is strongest. However, moral truth can be, and often is, relative. For example, if a man steals bread to feed his starving children, is that wrong? It is against the law to steal, yet it is also against the law to not feed your kids. So if you catch the guy stealing bread, do you let him keep it, or throw him in jail, causing his kids to die on the street?
Shork, you have a point, however, it is still wrong to break the law. My answer to the question: put the man in comunity service, and send some money (child support) to the children.
It is not wrong to break the law. The law is something set by man, and the law is always changing, so law itself is relative.
This is a short blog, but it's a rare one with good potential, etc. So I won't be removing it.
I was going to post a blog saying this same thing a while ago (in more words, of course) but then I realized that anyone with half a brain has already figured it out. So yeah, I agree.
Cesque is right, however, that you're mixing moral relativism and relative truth, and you may want to explain #3 in more depth. Also, #2 isn't really true because relativists, like everyone else, are hypocrites. I've never met a relativist who claimed that, say, the holocaust was completely okay, or at least not consistently. Whatever. Oh, and #4 is probably crap.Yaywalter - Breaking the law is wrong. Though some laws (taxes, etc.) are made by man, there are some that transcend cultures. (Laws against stealing, murder, etc.)
Cesque - I may be mixing them up a bit, but I can't figure out how. All drugs (that I know of), if abused, are harmful. However, "true evil" does exist. Example: Man with chainsaw massacreing in a childrens hospital just to hear screams and see blood. It's opposite is true good, though none of us has ever been purely good. Example: anonymous donation to childrens hospital after the chainsaw massacre.Jabberwock - #4 was just for fun. Explanation for #3: Relativism was thought up for the purpose of allowing people to dismiss their faults and actions, by calling them not truly wrong. Explanation for #2: Relativism, by saying nothing is truly wrong, allows people to think of massacres as not truly wrong, allowing them to dismiss crimes as not being wrong, and letting them, by other reasons, count crimes as right.Gamer3D, the only law that is truly wrong is stealing.
—Not stealing as in, "OMG I TOOK UR PSP!!", but rather stealing someone's life, someone's will to live, someone's love, or someone's potential. Other than that, nothing else is truly, on all accounts, wrong.—But in my opinion, on a deeper level, nothing is wrong nor right. Everything starts out as something that will be, becomes something that is, then fades into something that was. Everything will experience that cycle, so nothing that happens is permanent. Everything an action affects will fade away in time, so it's as if it never existed. Just like before the action took place.—- Sincerely, James EastmanYW- bullcrap. If that were the case, than why would 'stealing' be wrong? Who cares if I kill someone if the universe will just go back to normal regardless? Explain to me why, if there's no God and if your actions have no effect on the universe as a whole, 'stealing,' by your definition, is wrong.
Gamer3D- yeah, technically relativism says nothing is wrong, but relativISTs are very inconsistent in their beliefs.