Moral nihilism is the idea that our world has no moral features, morality is an almost non-existent set of rules that represent nothing real or abstract, thus moral claims cannot be true of anything. Moral nihilists do not believe in moral goodness, duty, or virtue, and therefore deny that anything is morally good (Shafer-Landau 308).
The Constitution of the United States, along with a vast majority of laws that have been passed are generally based on protecting the rights of citizens and allowing the United States to prosper and be in the best possible stance in the respective situation through moral ideals. In many circumstances, protecting citizens while protecting the United States boils down to actions that are considered “right” or “wrong” by the general public, or in the case of laws, the majority view of Congress.
For example, in Section 3 of Article 3, the Constitution outlines treason and the consequences of treason against the United States. Treason is the crime of betraying one’s own country through aid or comfort of said country’s …show more content…
In the example of treason, a moral nihilist would likely not include the crime explicitly in regards to a question of morality through betrayal. The idea that one ought to remain loyal to their country, or even the idea that one must remain loyal, fits the definition of a value as opposed to a fact. Because nihilists support a rigid fact-value distinction, or in the other words, deny the existence of values, the question or consequence of loyalty would not necessarily be a major point of discussion as it is currently. The law would instead give some sort of straight factual means of information that relates neither to moral qualities nor moral requirements. This would apply to other laws that have a basis related to morality such as the 8th Amendment, no cruel and unusual punishment, as