I think we have a great deal of agreement here although neither of us is likely to ever admit it ... whoops...
Anyway, when speaking of moral absolutes I am limiting myself to the realm of ideals in principle.
Behavior and conduct is the business of thread nannies, politicians, advice columnests and such. I consider the value of listening to such about equal to holding my ear to a block of wood.
Whether conduct is in line with a moral principle of good or bad is often known only to the actor and that is even doubtful. Are there good, better, best, bad, worse, or worst conducts that can be acted upon in any given situation (relative to goodness or badness). Most definitely, conduct can be measured on such a continuum. The continuum points to an ideal (or absolute) at each end. So moral absolutes, although probably not achievable in the physical world, are directional.
Who judges the goodness or badness? Anybody who wants to, while they likely miss by a mile or two in so doing. |
