Moral Absolutism Case Study

Moral absolutism is an ethical theory that views moral rules hold without exception. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, there are no such things that fall in between. For instance, rape is absolutely wrong. “Even if a woman wears a very short, tight skirt, she should not be raped. Even if the rapist was abused as a child. Even if his wife just cheated on him. Even if the woman looked really, really good in that skirt. The rapist is still accountable. And he still did wrong” (Hornstein, 2001). Moral absolutism only focuses on the action itself, even if your intention is for the good sake or result in a good result.
Cases Against Moral Absolutism
Rules Conflict Each Other
Moral absolutists believe that there is a set of moral …show more content…
Because the one worker that’s on the side track does not relate to the trolley car, he is on a completely different track. If we turn the trolley car into that track on purpose and killed him, this is not an accident. It is a murder! In the other hand, the five workers will die as the consequence of not turning the trolley car. Consider another ethical theory: consequentialism, which determine an action based on the outcome of an action. In this example, turning the trolley car will end with an outcome of four workers not die compared to not turning.
Imagine someone is suffering from diseases and pains in hospital, he cannot endure the pain anymore now. Then he asks his doctor to end his life with no pain, what would you do if you are the doctor? Of course, moral absolutists will definitely say no to the patient according to the moral rule: preserve someone’s life. On the contrary, consequentialists will end the patient’s life. As a result, the patient would not suffer from the pain anymore and his family does not need to pay the high cost in hospital. Thus, it maximizes the total utility and consequentialists will turn the trolley for this