Tuesday, March 26, 2024

If Moral Relativism Can't Destroy All Moral Principles, Perhaps It's A Form of Moral Absolutism

Moral Nihilism = every moral principle can be destroyed by man.

Moral Absolutism = at least one moral principle cannot be destroyed by man.

Moral Principle X = it's moral to obey local social order


Given Axiom - Local social order is allowed to destroy every moral principle except Moral Principle X.


Conclusion - Given these constraints, local social order is following moral absolutism.

Extended Conclusion - if moral relativism is defined by its constraints on what it can destroy, it is following moral absolutism.



Saturday, March 23, 2024

Mathematical Proof that Moral Relativism is Contradictory

 

I think the idea is pretty clear, even if I might have made a few typos.  Typos are easy to correct.  Major conceptual errors?  Less so.  If someone disagrees with the axioms, I can handle that.  As long as the proof logically flows from the axioms, I'm happy.


Symbols Used


AM = Absolute Morality

RM = Relative Morality

NM = Nihilistic Morality


AMS = Absolute Moral Standards


ARQ = Absolute Moral Requirement

OLM = Obedience of Local Morals


NOL = nothing off limits locally

NOA = nothing off limits absolutely



Axioms


Axiom 1  If RM then AMS is an empty set


Axiom 2  Not(if RM then NM)


Axiom 3  If ARQ is a nonempty set, then AMS is nonempty


Axiom 4 If (OLM is not an element of ARQ) then NOL


Axiom 5 If AMS is empty then NOA


Axiom 6 If (NOL and NOA) then NM




Proof


Line 1 Assume RM


Line 2 (OLM is an element of ARQ) or (OLM is not an element of ARQ)


Line 3 If (OLM is an element of ARQ) then ARQ is nonempty


Line 4 If ARQ is nonempty, then AMS is nonempty by Axiom 3


Line 5 If AMS is nonempty then Axiom 1 is contradicted


Line 6 If (OLM is not an element of ARQ) then NOL by axiom 4


Line 7 By Axiom 1 AMS is empty, and by Axiom 5 NOA


Line 8 Since we have NOL and NOA, by Axiom 6, we have NM


Line 9 By lines 1, 6, 7, and 8, we have If RM then NM.  This contradicts Axiom 2.


Line 10 Therefore line 2 will always lead to a contradiction.


QED




Explanation of Proof



Axioms are translated at follows:


Axiom 1  If moral relativism is true then there are no absolute moral standards


Axiom 2  It's false that moral relativism being true leads to moral nihilism being true


Axiom 3  If an absolute moral requirement exists then there exists an absolute moral standard


Axiom 4  If obedience of local morals is not an absolute moral requirement then nothing is off limits locally


Axiom 5  If there are no absolute moral standards then nothing is off limits absolutely


Axiom 6  If nothing is off limits locally and nothing is off limits absolutely then moral nihilism is true




Proof is translated as follows


Line 1 Assume Moral Relativism is true


Line 2 Either obedience of local morals is an absolute moral requirement or it isn't


Line 3 If it is, we have an absolute moral requirement that exists


Line 4 This means we have an absolute moral standard


Line 5 But this contradicts axiom 1 where we assumed no moral standards exist


Line 6 So we'll assume now that obedience of local morals is not an absolute moral requirement.  Axiom 4 implies that now nothing is off limits locally.


Line 7 Since we assumed Moral Relativism was true, we have no moral standards and by axiom 5 nothing is off limits absolutely


Line 8 Now we have nothing being off limits locally or absolutely.  By axiom 6 this has led to moral nihilism being true.


Line 9 By lines 1, 6, 7, and 8, we moral relativism leading to moral nihilism.  This contradicts Axiom 2.


Line 10 Therefore line 2 will always lead to a contradiction.


QED



Quick summary 


Under moral relativism, the obedience of local morals is either an absolute moral requirement or it isn't.  If it is, then we have an absolute moral standard, which is against moral relativism's definition.  If it's not, moral relativism leads to obedience of local morals being optional, and nothing being off limits locally or globally.  This leads to moral nihilism, which we assumed was different than moral relativism.  



Source used - APA definition of Moral Relativism


The belief that the morality or immorality of an action is determined by social custom rather than by universal or fixed standards of right and wrong.