Discuss whether moral judgements are subjective or objective

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Discuss whether moral judgements are subjective or

objective

There are several branches of moral philosophy.  The branch that examines the sociological facts of

moral philosophy is called descriptive ethics.  Another branch is normative ethics which deals with how

a person ought to behave.  The branch that has its focus on the definitions of moral terms themselves is

called metaethics and it is this branch that draws the distinctions between subjective and objective

moral judgements.

Objectivists believe that morality is a constant which does not change through time.  They believe that

some things are always wrong no matter what the circumstances surrounding them are.  For example,

staunch anti-abortionists are objective because they believe that killing an unborn child is wrong no

matter what the circumstances are.  Objectivists believe that moral disagreements can be settled one

way or another.  Without an objective basis for morality they believe that there is no way of saying that

another’s morality is wrong (ethical relativism).  Moral judgements are facts which can be true or false

and they can be backed up by a truth value.   Objectivists could say that killing is wrong because it is

against God’s will as given in the ten commandments (Ex.21:12-32).  To base your moral truths on God’s

will is called theological moral realism and its sources are scripture, reason inspired by faith, the

teaching of the church and in particular of theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.  

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However, there are problems in basing your moral philosophy on God’s will.  Plato posed the question  

“are the things God commands good because they are commanded by God, or intrinsically good in

themselves?”  If we believe that the will of God is there for our own good this infers that morality is

independent of God.  There are also problems with theological moral realism for those people who do

not believe in God, or who have different beliefs.  The church continues to face moral dilemmas which

cannot be answered categorically by theological moral realism.  Differing interpretations ...

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