The ABSOLUTE

"Compassion is the basis of morality."

-Arthur Schopenhauer

Throughout course of my philosophy class this semester, we talked a lot about morals.  We ventured into the depths of right and wrong and where these "perceptions" we have come from.  The one thing that still resonates with me, sometimes in an irritating way, is this thing called moral absolutism.  It is this complicated concept, by which all judgements are based upon an absolute standard of morals in any given circumstance (1).  Basically, rather than the fine line between right and wrong, its more of the galaxy which separates the universe of right and the universe of wrong.  If something or someone were to exist one of those two given universes, they could never and would never exist in the other.  It's the idea that anything we consider to be "wrong" or "evil" completely over powers anything good, as if someone who has ever done anything "wrong" is completely incapable of even having a single good thought or intention.

For example, we did this activity in class where we had to choose who we would want as our world leader, based on how they live their lives and wether or not their lives would fit with our morals.  We were given three candidates:

A)  This potential leader is confined to a wheelchair and has numerous affairs outside of his marriage.  He also smokes and drinks excessively.

B)  Candidate B is a decorated war hero.  He is vegetarian, practices abstinence, doesn't smoke and rarely drinks.

C)  The last candidate enjoys an occasional drink during the evenings, has experimented with drugs in college and often sleeps in until noon.

Now who did you choose?  The funny thing is, these are actual world leaders.  For those of you who chose A, you picked Franklin Rooselvelt.  Candidate B is Adolph Hitler and finally, candidate C is Winston Churchill.  Interesting, eh?  Perhaps even upsetting?

What upsets me about this exercise is how bothered people are when they learn who the real leaders are.  Oh, the humility! To think that Hitler could ever possess a single ounce of decency within him after all he's done!  Well of course he can!  He's human!  We, as humans have a choice; we can either let the good within us over power, or let the bad take over for reasons we regard as justifiable.

"Yea, but Martin Luther King cheated on his wife..."

Stuff like that, stuff people say, that is completely irrelevant to the tremendous accomplishments of many people disappoints me.  What does it matter that MLK cheated on his wife?  Does that completely cancel out anything he's ever done in regards to racial movements?  I strongly don't believe it does.

This is why we need to stop judging based on these ABSOLUTE moral standards.  No one is perfect.  There are two sides to every story and you have the power to let the better side be exposed.  There are exceptions.

What do you think?


(1) http://www.gotquestions.org/moral-absolutism.html