AJ 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Bataan Death March, Internment Of Japanese Americans, Situational Ethics
Document Summary
Absolutists: absolutists claim that the explanation for events like the holocaust, slavery, the massacre of indigenous american indians, the armenian genocide, japanese- American internment, the bataan death march and torture in abu ghraib and. Universalists may argue that, in eliminating moral absolutes, individual moral autonomy contributes to selfish (and nationalistic) rationalization. At the other hand, absolutism is also less than acceptable, as we can all think of certain situations where the "law" needs to be violated. Even kant refused to be solely absolutist in his statement that if told to a person who is trying to hurt us, lying isn"t really a lie. What, instead, is required is an approach that solves both issues. Situational ethics is distinct from relativism, since it accepts absolute laws, although there are no rules under relativism. Golden rule, and care ethics might help us fashion a collection of moral absolutes that would be sufficiently broad to ensure universal consent.
