Posts in "Moral Relativism"

Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 9:34PM

Libertarians, Moral Relativism, and Cultural Conservatism

Defending a man's unalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," is clearly endorsing some sort of moral objectivity. This runs contra to the notion that there are no "good" and "bad" morals but  only "different," morals that vary from person to person and culture to culture.

Thus, contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not the left but the right that is most viable to libertarian appeal.  "Traditionalists" and religious righters need not undergo a dramatic conversion to become libertarians. They need only be persuaded that the state shouldn't be used to prevent "immoral" personal behavior. Indeed, by holding the state to the same standard as private society,  an NAP -compliant  moral absolutist would actually be more consistent in his viewpoint.

On the other hand, the hardcore moral relativists on the far-left need to undergo a total personal rebirth to become libertarians. To be a libertarian, after all, is to support a society where aggression against a man's property is illicit for any reason.


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Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 8:46PM

Hey Liberals -- The Obama Administration has, is, and will continue to torture

Those statists and "peacenik" celebrities who claim to oppose torture "on principle," yet sanction the Obama warfare state, are deeply naive.

It's either ethical to blow children's legs off for some "greater good," or it is absolutely morally unacceptable. While I consider the views of a philosophical consequentialist like Henry Kissinger deplorable, he at least has some intellectual credibility that the standard flag-waver lacks.

In their minds, (NB: explicit imagerythese sorts of things "don't count," as torture. After all, it was (sorta) sanctioned by the US state in its undeclared "war on terror." I'm sure the parents of the children are completely fine with their torture since this is considered to be "public policy," by US state and its "sacred" military.

(The haunting images are from Glenn Greenwald's Unclaimed Territory)