The Six Major Ethical Systems

Absolutism in ethics is a requirement that people should always and in all circumstances follow the same principles and rules of a morally impeccable behavior. For example, such statements as “Thou shall not kill”, “Do not steal”, “Do not lie”, etc are absolutist. In other words, such approach obliges a person to fulfill a moral duty always and without exception, not putting it into dependence on customs, culture and social demands. Ethical absolutism is a reaction to a moral relativism, filling modern social life and demanding to behave according to the circumstances which are dictated by the time, common prejudices, pressures and power. As a result, an unsolvable problem of absolutism lies in the fact that, in practice, it cannot be done consistently and be applicable in all circumstances. From this it comes that the behavior following the commandment “Thou shall not lie” would be unacceptable from the point of view of the commandment “Thou shall not kill”, if with truthfulness one person sets the other to a killer. In this case, one of the commandments should be subordinated to the other, and this upset the basic requirement of moral absolutism. Christian ethics is neither relativistic nor rigidly absolutist. Two commandments to love God and neighbor (Mf.22.37-39) are given to guide the mind and conscience in personal decisions (Stace, n.d.). However, absolutist understanding of ethics is a serious truth of the transcendent source of moral demands. It can be concluded that absolutism means combining and subordinating different requirements in such a way that altogether they serve for the better. Undoubtedly, the God’s laws cannot be contradictory. On the contrary, they are supporting and developing each other creating a general absolutist truth. Namely, this is the point of ethics – to show a person a way to find this combination and subordination.