Greg Koukl explains how to be a consistent moral relativist
Wintery Knight
The absolute easiest way to get into a good conversation with someone is to ask them what makes something right or wrong on their view. You have to be careful not to get into a fight about a particular moral issue, though, so you have to choose a clear-case example, not something controversial.
Just ask the person you want to engage two questions:
1.) Is it it wrong to treat people badly just because of their skin color?
2.) What makes it wrong?
Now, as I see it, there are only 3 possible answers to this question.
1.) I personally prefer not to do that – it is wrong for me.
2.) Our culture has evolved a set of customs that apply for us in this time and place, and that set of customs says that members of the society ought not to do that. It is wrong for us, here and now.
3.) Humans are designed to act in a certain way, and part of that design is that we ought not to do that. Acting in line with our design allows us to flourish, (Aristotle’s eudaimonia).
Response #1, is called “moral relativism”. Response #2 is called “cultural relativism”. Response #3 is my view: moral realism. I believe in a hierarchy of moral absolutes that exist objectively, because they are part of God’s design for us and the universe.
I wanted to go over a paper by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason, in which he critiques moral relativism. His paper is called “Seven Things You Can’t Do as a Moral Relativist”. First, let’s see the list of sevent things.
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- You can’t make moral judgments about other people’s moral choices
- You can’t complain about God allowing evil and suffering
- You can’t blame people or praise people for their moral choices
- You can’t claim that any situation is unfair or unjust
- You can’t improve your morality
- You can’t have meaningful discussions about morality
- You can’t promote the obligation to be tolerant
You’ll have to read the paper to see how he argues for these, but I wanted to say a brief word about number 1.
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Greg Koukl explains how to be a consistent moral relativist « Wintery Knight
RECOMMENDED APOLOGETICS RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING:
Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air
True for You, But Not for Me: Overcoming Objections to Christian Faith
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