Explain What Us Meant by Moral Absloutism

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Explain what is meant by moral absolutism (25 marks) Moral absolutism is the belief that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged and that certain actions are either right or wrong regardless of the situation. This means that actions are either moral or immoral regardless of the beliefs of an individual. For example, in all circumstances for a moral absolutist war, slavery and the death penalty is wrong regardless of the beliefs of a culture that these things are practised. Even in circumstances where lying is involved, moral absolutism would still say it’s wrong even if it is for something good; it is considered intrinsically wrong. With moral absolutism, there are set absolute laws that are universal and always true. Every human being has an obligation to adhere to these laws. Moral absolutism agrees with the theory that some actions are moral or immoral regardless of the circumstances that come with these situations. In moral absolutism, the Ten Commandments are considered not to be broken no matter what. For example, one of the Ten Commandments ‘Thou shall not kill’ should not be broken and is applied to situations such as the death penalty or abortion. This links to the divine command theory. This is a meta-ethical theory which proposes that what is moral is determined by God and that to be moral is to follow his commands. This theory claims that morality is ultimately based on God and the right action is the one that God requires. The divine commands vary in religions but in the end, they all have in common that moral obligations depend on God. Natural law is sometimes described as being deontological because it leads to a set of rules that people have a duty to follow. It is an absolute theory of ethics and was developed by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas says that the natural laws are universal and unchangeable and should be
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