I was watching the Mentalist a couple days ago and I found this interesting. Jane the main character was talking about the idea of there is no such thing as wrong, there is only; moral and immoral, ethical and unethical, legal and illegal. What can be translated as wrong in one area or culture can be totally acceptable in another area or culture. There can't be universal idea of wrong. For example Murder can be defined in so many ways. If you kill someone you are murderer. If you are a soldier killing someone is patroitic. Then there the idea of intent which one has to include self-defense, manslaughter, and plain murder. Another example is the use of language. Foul language is seen as unacceptable in most places. However in certain areas, families and generations, foul language is a norm. To what extent can an idea of wrong be limitted. Society defination of wrong changes along with experience, emotions, and perception. Is there such a thing as wrong?
I feel that there can be wrong in the mind of an individual or even individuals but on a large scale there is no such thing as a definite wrong.
ReplyDeleteI like this post. I would say that something is wrong only if every society, culture and person defines it as 'wrong.' Otherwise, it is just 'against the rules' or 'illegal.' I don't know why I added the air quotes. And actually, on the topic of math. You can have a right or wrong answer, even though you may believe you are right. But, when you think about it, math is kind of mysterious...
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this a little bit. The question is, is there such a thing as Natural Law. Things that are universally wrong. For instance, murdering somebody out of greed/anger. I don't think that there is such a culture that thinks that this is right. I think an example of this would be with the 10 Commandments in the Christian religion. By God's doing, he set up ten universal laws. Things that all people should follow.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, what is right/wrong just matters on how far you define it. Ex. Killing somebody can be both good and bad (army/greed), murdering somebody can still go both ways, but murdering somebody for personal gain is universally seen as wrong.
This sounds like an IB English question, and philosophy of TOK (last year xD) I think I have to agree with Christian
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