Why An Universal Ethical Code Can Never Exist

1314 Words6 Pages
The entire world changed after the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese islands of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It created a mass hysteria considering that now the world could be destroyed from the use of these awesome bombs. As the United States gradually slipped into the Cold War with the Soviet Union, people hoped that some ethical codes instilled within us all would prevent the obliteration of the earth by use of atomic bombs. Though the power of the atomic bomb has not been unleashed upon another civilization since Nagasaki, the hope that an ethical code can regulate interactions throughout all regions, states, and nations is erroneous. Blackburn, in his short introduction to ethics through the book “Being Good”, gives seven threats to ethics that denounces the ability to regulate interactions ethically. These seven threats are exactly why a world renowned ethical policy can never be instilled. During WWII, the Japanese sent kamikaze bombers to destroy United States’ vessels. These kamikazes would take their own life to destroy American ships. This was morally acceptable to the Japanese; though the United States saw this as inhumane. The United States goes on to drop the atomic bomb which kills thousands of civilians.It is widely accepted, with some discrepancy, that Truman made this decision to save Japanese and American lives that would be lost in a land invasion. This also was considered morally wrong by other nations. This is where Blackburn’s argument of relativism threatens ethics. What may be seen as ethically acceptable to one region may be seen as a monstrosity to ethics in another. Within this ideal Blackburn argues, “There is no one truth. There are only different truths of different communities.”(Blackburn, 19). There is no one to say whose truth is the right truth, and that is one reason why an ethical code can not be applicable throughout
Open Document