The Ethics of Absolutism and Relativism

SUMMARY: A perceptive and well-supported discussion of absolutism and relativism and their relevance for ethics.

Absolutism is the position that a Truth (supreme with a capital ‘T’) is known. That it is above and beyond all other truths (small ‘t’). This has implications for enemy-making and conflict. Why? Because when one knows an absolute Truth, the implication is that anyone else who does not agree with him is at best different and in need of toleration, and at worst wrong, evil, to be discriminated against, outcast, demonized, and at the very worst harmed and murdered, their family along with them.

Relativism is the view that recognizes many “truths" or points-of-view exist side by side, even that other truths may be yet to be discovered. This has implications for peace. Why? Because the implication of accepting that there are many countervailing points-of-view is that these could potentially be accommodated peacefully through dialog and cooperative interactions.

Morally, for absolutists, there are many things that ought to be done and many that ought not to be done. this can be a valuable point of view because it simplifies live and its decisions, and can be applied as self-discipline to keep people from making adecisions nd doing things which might harm them.

For example a farmer moves to the city to earn money for his family. Rural life was much less complicated, and elders kept order in the village. In the city he is lonely, begins to drink, has extramarital sex, and gambles away much of the money meant for his family back in the village. But then he joins a spiritual community, and the teacher in it gives absolute values which the man uses to keep himself on the up and up.

For relativists, since there is a plurality of truths, then more things become permissible, tolerable, and respectable. This makes the individual and the group more vulnerable to danger and harm. Being open to new people and new ideas and activities rasies the risk of potential dangers. However this does not mean a relativist position is without standards and devoid of judgment. Realtivists often evaluate ideas and behaviors using the criterion of whether they work or not. Does the idea solve problems? or make problems? Does it lead to long-term happiness of individuals and society?

Absolutists are more likely to see their theory as more important than whether or not its application actually works or not. For them whether the practice of their ideas leads to a happy results is less important then adherence to the doctrine. If their practices lead to problems for the wider ccommunity, then they might tend to blame the outside community rather than take responsibility for the messes they create. Being right ideologically is more important than people’s happiness, even their own. In the absolutist mindset, ideologically imposed structure supersedes the nitty gritty real life realities.

The Absolutist mindset can be healthy if an individual applies it to himself. He adheres to principles to discipline his study and health. He might miss out on the pleasures of drunkenness and laziness, if he accepted these as relatively equal in value to studies and health, but if he disciplined himself to avoid the destructive, even delay gratification, he would connect with success in his studies and career.

Absolutist principles are less beneficial when one applies them to others. For the sake of a rigid ideology one might forego relationships, marriage, and love. Absolute doctrines tend to be isolating and can develop into impervious cultural spheres. Impervious means less vulnerable, to threats by enemies, yet also to healthy interrelations (ie trade, new knge and the like). When the society feels threatened, it loses int in being open and vulnerable to new ideas. It is reverts to thinking that shuts out the new and the different, to overarching ideological solutions and rally behind an absolute truth, and its proponents.

Relativists tend to combine ideas and processes from various sources to synthesize new solutions. They may come up with counterproposals to what they see as destructive or counterproductive behavior. Absolutists have a difficulty looking at themselves honestly; it is less likely to occur to them to examine their ideology, less likely to think critically and question, so they miss out on a lot of beneficial knowledge. Their organizations would tend to lack transparency and accountability, so they are inflexible and cannot change with the times, and become irrelevant to the general population.

The point is both Absolutist and Realtivist points of view have their rightful placees along side of each other, and although they seem condradivtve and in paradox, it is possible to harmonize both them both through an attitude of true love and understanding of the changing needs of the time stages.

Here follows three examples of choosing either an absolutist or relativist position to cope with the personal crisis of an unwanted child.

An unwed mother is talked out of an abortion by an devout activist Catholic because “God hates abortions.” But the impact of the baby in her life causes her life-course to veer into cutting off education, working in poor-paying jobs, difficulty finding a husband, and so on. As her child grows in the environmental field of such potentials, then probabilities are high the mother’s condition of cultural and financial poverty will be recycled in the child’s life, and so on.

Another absolutist scenario is a devout activist for Planned Parenthood persuades the Catholic mother of the absolutist position that abortions are the best way, yet the potential mother delays, the eventual abortion impairs her later reproductive health, and her psychological health is plagued life-long by guilt because of her religious background -- an ethos of upbringing which did much to help her and other members of her family through many other life challenges, if not through this one.

The relativist might be a Catholic priest who lays out all the options. They discuss together what the probable consequences of each choice might be. Then the mother is encouraged to choose for herself whether to keep the child, put it up for adoption, or abort the fetus. Unfortunately few take the time and most lack maturity for the hard work of dialog, critical thinking and moral decision-making. More should be done to teach critical thinking, consideration of consequnces and moral choice-making ought to teach this in the education system

Absolutism has a very important place in our lives. Human growth follows a universal principle of progression through stages of successive development. Each stage has its own qualities and needs. Absolutes are quite useful for children’s education, as in admonishing a 4 year-old, “Do not play on the 6th floor balcony. On the day that you do, you will die.” (to paraphrase God's warning to Adam and Eve in Genesis). the parent often lacks the time to explain, and the child lacks the cognitive ability to understand the laws of gravity. Nor to warn an overconfident teen absolutely to not climb a waterfall without a rope. (I know of a such a sorrow-filled death.) Teens in later adolescence often feel surges of invincibility.

As we mature we come to understand through our collected experiences that life is very complex; that there are various moral solutions for each and every situation. The absolutes, rules, laws, continue to help us gauge dilemmas. Some may try to reject all absolutes, especially if following them got a person into trouble. Others will find new self-confidence in a set of moral absolutes which give them strength to avoid destructive habits and activities. The most mature position of all is

"There are absolutely absolutes AND, at the same time, all is relative."

How would that work, say, for abortion?

"Absolutely no one should get an abortion. The consequences are always harmful. People would best develop self-control over their sexuality and conceive only wanted children …
AND at the same time,
it might be the best thing for all concerned to get that abortion."

This self-same person is somehow able to live in Peace with Paradox. It takes a great soul to be able to squeeze two mutually contradictive points-of-view into a single mind and somehow have them bend and blend together, but it happens with curious, respecting, grateful, forgiving, loving people.

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