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Huck and His Moral Compasses

Huck and His Moral Compasses. Objective vs. Subjective Morality. Subjective Morality. Morality (i.e. r ight and wrong) is not always the same It can differ from society to society, culture to culture, person to person, historical period to historical period, etc. Objective Morality.

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Huck and His Moral Compasses

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  1. Huck and His Moral Compasses Objective vs. Subjective Morality

  2. Subjective Morality • Morality (i.e. right and wrong) is not always the same • It can differ from society to society, culture to culture, person to person, historical period to historical period, etc.

  3. Objective Morality • Morality (i.e. right and wrong) is always the same • Even from person to person and society to society, there are certain things that are wrong

  4. (continued) • Objective Morality is NOT claiming that all societies and cultures have the same morality – this is, of course, false • So what is it claiming? • Certain things are right and certain things are wrong, and if a society disagrees with, then the society is wrong • i.e. Even though the Nazis thought genocide was OK, we can say it was wrong, even for them

  5. Questions • What do we believe? • Why?

  6. Pros of Subjective Morality • Freedom • Self-determining • Non-judgmental • Avoids certain “oppressive” systems • Any problems?

  7. Analogy • Is Act X right or wrong? • “It dependson the person” is one answer • Is there a coin in my pocket? • Does your opinion change reality? Does it change from person to person? • Why is this the case for morality?

  8. Problems with Subjective Morality • By claiming there is nothing objective right or wrong, we lose all ability to judge ANY moral situations • A pro-slavery country is just as moral as a anti-slavery state • Not only can we not claim the Nazis’ hopes of genocide is wrong, but we must make the claim that their hopes are as good as our hopes that genocide never happens again

  9. The best subjective morality can claim is this: “I think a society that supports slavery should changed, but only because my society has taught me that – not because slavery and racism are wrong.” • If we want to make the claim that racism and slavery are wrong and shouldn’t be in ANY society, then we’re claiming there is some aspect of objective morality.

  10. Problems with Objective Morality • Where do we go to find the things that are objectively right or wrong? • What should our moral compasses be?

  11. Twain and Huck • For Twain to claim racism and slavery are wrong, which he does, he must be appealing to some for of a moral compass • What is it?

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