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Absolutism Vs Utilitarianism

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What is morally right and wrong? Recently in class we have discussed moral dilemmas and the way to deal with situations. The Egoist say would that everything one does should benefit herself/himself. The Relativist would say your future decides what is wrong and right. The Utilitarian says whatever produces and increases the overall happiness is what is right. For the Absolutist certain actions are always right or wrong. Divine Command Theorist says that following God’s will is what leads to a moral life. After discussing the different ethical systems in class, I have realized that I agree with Absolutism based on Divine Command. My theory is that no matter what happens, you must follow God’s will. Absolutism is an ethical system based on …show more content…
If I take the job, then I would be able to mix the gases at a slower pace to save more people. Although, if I don’t take the job, then a crazy psychopath will take the job and mix the gases at an alarming rate. In order for me to make this decision I look to the Bible were it says in the Ten Commandments, that murder is strictly forbidden. Although some may ask, well you’re just letting all of these people die? Yes, that is true, but if I take the job then I would be killing people just the same as the others only at a slower pace, therefore I would still be murdering …show more content…
This challenge is, “is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?" Euthyphro’s dilemma brings up two questions. In the first question he asks, is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good? To answer the first question we need to realize that there are independent moral standards. Some actions can be right or wrong within themselves. Although with the first question we run into some problems, mainly omnipotence, because this directly contradicts Absolutism. Absolutism means that God is all powerful, and if you agree with the first question of the Euthyphro dilemma then you are saying that God is not all powerful. Now for the second question, is it morally good because it is commanded by God? After looking at the second question, you can see that there are no other moral standards other than God’s will. Although on the contrary, the second question also raises the fact that there would be no reason for morality at all. After looking at the two questions in detail I can firmly tell you that the second question is the answer I chose based on the Absolutist theory, mainly because if I choose the first one I would be assuming there is a more powerful being than

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