Subjectivity Of Morality

Improved Essays
Morality can exist in a world without God because of the objectivity of morals even through different time periods and cultures maintains, and genuinely good morality may easily come from non-religious motives. Certain immoral practices have been permissible in the past due to societal and cultural changes, but they are nonetheless still immoral. Morality does not simply follow clear cut rules, and historically immoral actions have happened egregiously. Ultimately, utilitarianism is what governs morality. To continue to sustain all of humanity and to even further individual success, correct moral judgment is key moving forward. Morality is based upon doing what is better for increasing utility in society. In addition, in practice there are …show more content…
The morality of every decision and action is objective. If morals are objective then as a society we may look back at certain actions and assess their morality. Just because an action or decision was agreed upon in the past or by certain parties as morally acceptable, it does not make those actions morally acceptable when we reflect up those times. That is why people and societies progress and reform in order to stray away from immoral actions. This contradicts the assessment made by J.L. Mackie in “The Subjectivity of Values”. J.L. Mackie submits that morality is subjective and changes interpretation from person to person. Mackie builds this argument upon the fact that individuals should act on what the subject judges as right and wrong. According to Mackie, people must act in the same way if morals are truly objective. People would just do what is “right” all the time and overcome egoism and self-interest. This clearly is not the case. People are more than capable to act immorally. Just because immoral actions happen, it does not change our ability to assess this judgment. We may still identify actions as moral or immoral. Mackie also asserts …show more content…
Are all of these people immediately considered immoral because of their belief that there is no God? Clearly, no. Obviously, there are people in the world who do amazing, selfless things with their life without having God dictate what is morally right. Morality rather than being sourced from God, there is an innate human sense to better themselves and others. Fundamentally, all humans are still animals with the imperative mission of competing to succeed in nature and reproduce and carry on your lineage. As society has grown the way to succeed now has become contributing to society in order to sustain oneself. Giving to society as a whole will in turn benefit the individual. A simple, governing guideline presides over human nature now, commonly known as The Golden Rule, simply stating, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule was supposedly brought to humanity by Jesus which would have happened nearly 2000 years ago. However, this as a tool to assess morality has never been seen in practice more than humanity currently. In a world where religion has much less bearing and atheism is more present, morality and proper judgment of actions are constantly becoming more precise. As seen previously, this rule was often broken for actions in the name of religion and still were (and maybe

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will argue that Plato’s Euthyphro shows that though it is possible for religion and morality to connect, they are two separate concepts independent of each other and must always be considered as such. Throughout the dialogue, Socrates demonstrates that the foundations of morality cannot be based on religion, as this provides a definition of morality that is ultimately empty. Throughout the dialogue of Euthyphro, Socrates attempts to use irony and thorough questioning to refute Euthyphro’s arguments and reveal the errors in his definition of piety, or morality. When asked what piety is, Euthyphro simply replies that “the pious is to do what I am doing now” (Plato 6).…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ubuntu Ethics The world we live in is a complex equilibrium between good and evil where we are constantly faced with moral dilemmas. Although many different schools of thought have attempted to define the most appropriate code of ethics for humans I chose to focus on the Kantian and Ubuntu moral theories. The basis of Kantian morality is that there are clear and simple moral truths that dictate our actions, while Nussbaum (2003) states that Ubuntu morality focuses on a person’s existence within a community as a basis for moral decisions (Kant & Gregor, 1998). By using the “Nazi at the door” dilemma as a foil between the two theories, I showed how both theories equally fail to define the appropriate code of moral conduct for humanity.…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Divine Command Theory explains that actions are good if and only if God commands them, and actions are bad if and only if God forbids them. This makes the Divine Command Theory independent of human thought and feeling, it is God who determines what actions are moral. If we were to disobey God that would be an immoral thing to do and thus, we would be punished. We are motivated to follow this theory because it is the only reason why we still follow moral laws.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Morality can be defined as the principles that govern good behavior. From the novel “Riveted” by Jim Davies (Davies, 2014), we learn about how religion helps defines people’s conduct. We also subsequently learn that religious people find it perplexing as to how atheists could have any morality at all. The tendency for the religious person to belief that anyone cannot be a moral agent without religion would be my target example. What the target example may overlook is the fact that morality is something innate in everybody and one does not necessary have to be religious to be have good morals.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Morals Without God There are many theists in the world, whether they be Christian or Islamic, but they all believe in some form of god. Whether it be Allah or Ra, they still follow a “moral code of conduct,” instructed to them by the divine. Atheists are harassed by theists, trying to denounce that the atheists are a cruel people because they don’t have a god to set morals for them. However, atheists set morals based on those around them, and basic human principles.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the last Chapter, Rachels discusses the creation of a "Satisfactory Moral Theory”, in this paper I will discuss my own creation of the Satisfactory Moral Theory. The moral theories are supposed to help us decide what are the right and wrong actions, but, not all the moral theories are perfect. We may feel that a certain conclusion to a problem is fair or unfair, but what theory do we use to make judgments?. I will start with the cultural relativism theory, to understand different cultures, There is a need to know that one community’s beliefs and practices are not usually the same as the other community. In fact, cultural relativism seems the most applicable approach to be taken on for communications purposes.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Morals are a tricky subject that philosophers have tried to decipher for some millennia. There have been many arguments regarding morals and where they originate. Some believe moral truths are the same for everyone, while others believe that morality is relative to each person. There is a divide between the two groups and very compelling arguments for and against the two belief systems. Relativism is a philosophy that claims that all things are relative and completely denies absolutes.…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because the human race is composed of diversified nations and cultures, we cannot establish a succinct, objective moral constitution because of the world’s increasing diversity. It’s difficult to dismantle what has been instilled into your mind all your life because we are constantly faced with emotional ties and personal attitudes. As Mackie stated, there will be the small few who turn against the already established rules for other moral reasons, but this act is simply an extension which arised “out of an existing way of life” (Mackie 651). This supports the idea that somehow we will always be connected to our underlying moral influences and that our individualistic biases never truly go away. Consequently, objectivity cannot be attained since humans are always linked to their thoughts, emotions and feelings which enhances the argument for…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Firstly, morality is often influenced by religion by making people think they will be punished after they die for doing certain…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Divine command theory is a meta - ethical theory which states that an action is obligatory if and only if, it is commanded by God. In this essay, I will examine whether any form of divine command theory is defensible. In defence, I shall begin by looking at the modified theory as proposed by Robert Adams. Secondly, I will attempt to assess objections from Plato, Austin and Wainwright; before proceeding to evaluate whether these objections are successful in demeaning this theory. Let us take the modified version of the divine command theory , as proposed by Robert Adams (1987); in defence of the original theory.…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    RE-113 Discussion Topic Three: The Ten Commandments (1) Are the Ten Commandments, as a whole, necessary rules for a moral life? In my opinion, the Ten Commandments, as a whole, are not necessary rules for a moral life because they infuse religious ideology with social moral principles, which I believe is an issue in a world with many faiths, free will, and the access to an education that aids individuals in forming their own opinions about the life. Commandments one through four in particular are completely unnecessary for a moral life because not everyone believes in the same god, nor do they believe in the same manner in which devotion should be showed. (2) Are these commandments more for religious compliance to a particular faith (specifically…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    John Leslie Mackie maintained that there is no objective moral truth. Throughout my essay I aim to establish what Mackie meant by this, I shall then go on to explore his ‘Argument from Relativity’ (more commonly known as the argument from disagreement) which he displays in his paper ‘The subjectivity of Values’ (1977). Finally, I shall investigate an important objection to the argument outlining how Mackie and other scholars respond to these critics. I believe that they respond sufficiently to the criticisms, critics appear to make fundamental misunderstandings regarding the way in which agents construct their beliefs leading them to falsely conclude that objective values exist. As a moral anti-realist Mackie supposes that moral properties cannot exist independently of the mind.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No matter what we think or believe, things are what they are because that is how they exist in the universe. There is a higher power who says what is morally good and how we should live our lives. If I had to respond to an opposing argument, I would have to say that you cannot have a cookie cutter approach to morality. Society needs rules to function because they are absolutes, providing a structure we can all live by.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In class and in The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James & Stuart Rachels, I learned about the Minimum Conception of Morality (MCM). There are two key elements which make up the Minimum Conception of Morality. The first part states the moral judgments must always have good reasons for the decision. This often is confused with what they feel and not actually facts. The second part is that morality must always be impartial, and take all stakeholders into consideration without being bias.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Well, think of how the world would be if everyone did whatever they wanted and didn’t think of right or wrong while carrying out their actions. It is very ideal to have specific morals of what’s right and wrong, Without morals, where would life take us? Would there even be a meaning to life if everyone just did what they pleased without any significance behind it? If you don’t consider your values and beliefs, life could be a mess. Morals are in existence to guide your life to goals rather than be controlled by unhealthy habits and actions.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics