1 - Right & Wrong

• Absolute Morality - Rules that apply to all situations and can never be broken
• Relative Morality - What is right or wrong in each case depends on the situation
• Absolute Morality -

  • Moral rules, such as 'it is wrong to kill' are universal truths - they are absolute
  • They apply to all people at all times in all situations. There are no circumstances in which it is morally acceptable to kill or to break a promise
  • Many religious people would say that what is morally right is whatever God has commanded, and what is wrong is whatever God has forbidden or condemned - known as Divine Command Theory
• Relative Morality

  • There are moral principles we should try to keep, but they need to be adapted depending on the situation
  • Moral attitudes shift over time. For example, keeping slaves was though to be acceptable, but today, it is not
  • What is right and wrong depends on the circumstances of a situation. This is called Situation Ethics
  • For example, there are circumstances in which killing may be the best possible course of action