Moral universalism: Difference between revisions

'''Moral universalism''' (also called '''moral objectivism''') is the [[meta-ethical]] position that some system of [[ethics]], or a universal ethic, applies [[universality (philosophy)|universally]], that is, for "all similarly situated individuals",<ref name=PhilPages/> regardless of [[culture]], [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]], [[sex]], [[religion]], [[nationality]], [[sexual orientation]], [[gender identity]], or any other distinguishing feature.<ref name=Gowans/> Moral universalism is opposed to [[moral nihilism]] and [[moral relativism]]. However, not all forms of moral universalism are [[moral absolutism|absolutist]], nor are they necessarily [[value monism|value monist]]; many forms of universalism, such as [[utilitarianism]], are non-absolutist, and some forms, such as that of [[Isaiah Berlin]], may be [[value pluralism|value pluralist]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}

An early example of moral universalism can be found in [[Judaism]]: the [[Seven Laws of Noah]] ({{lang-he|שבע מצוות בני נח}}, ''Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach''),<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Noahide Laws |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noahide-Laws |date=14 January 2008 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121153759/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noahide-Laws |archive-date=21 January 2016 |url-status=live |access-date=10 November 2020 |quote='''Noahide Laws''', also called '''Noachian Laws''', a [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[Talmud|Talmudic designation]] for seven biblical laws given to [[Adam]] and to [[Noah]] before the [[Ten Commandments|revelation to Moses]] on [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mt. Sinai]] and consequently binding on all mankind. Beginning with [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Genesis|2:16|HE}}, the Babylonian Talmud listed the first six commandments as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and robbery and the positive command to establish courts of justice (with all that this implies). After [[Genesis flood narrative|the Flood]] a seventh commandment, given to Noah, forbade the eating of flesh cut from a living animal ({{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:4|HE}}). Though the number of laws was later increased to 30 with the addition of prohibitions against castration, sorcery, and other practices, the “seven laws,” with minor variations, retained their original status as authoritative commandments and as the source of other laws. As basic statutes safeguarding [[monotheism]] and guaranteeing proper [[ethical conduct]] in society, these laws provided a legal framework for [[Ger toshav|alien residents]] in Jewish territory. [[Maimonides]] thus regarded anyone who observed these laws as one “assured of a portion in the [[World to Come#Jewish eschatology|world to come]].”}}</ref><ref name="Vana 2013">{{cite journal |last=Vana |first=Liliane |date=May 2013 |title=Les lois noaẖides: Une mini-Torah pré-sinaïtique pour l'humanité et pour Israël |editor-last=Trigano |editor-first=Shmuel |journal=Pardés: Études et culture juives |publisher=Éditions In Press |location=[[Paris]] |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=211–236 |language=fr |doi=10.3917/parde.052.0211 |doi-access=free |eissn=2271-1880 |isbn=978-2-84835-260-2 |issn=0295-5652 |via=[[Cairn.info]]}}</ref><ref name="myjewishlearning.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-noahide-laws/ |title=The Noahide Laws |last=Spitzer |first=Jeffrey |date=2018 |website=My Jewish Learning |access-date=7 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="JE1">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9679-laws-noachian |title=Noachian Laws |last1=Singer |first1=Isidore |last2=Greenstone |first2=Julius H. |author1-link=Isidore Singer |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |year=1906 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205022051/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9679-laws-noachian |archive-date=5 February 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=7 November 2020}}</ref> a set of imperatives which, according to the [[Talmud]], were given by [[God in Judaism|God]] as a binding set of universal moral laws for the "[[sons of Noah]]" – that is, all of [[human]]ity.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica">{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Meyer |editor2-last=Zevin |editor2-first=Shlomo Yosef |editor2-link=Shlomo Yosef Zevin |title=BEN NOAH |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lkLnwuXpbl4C&pg=PA360 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Talmudica|Encyclopedia Talmudica: A Digest of Halachic Literature and Jewish Law from the Tannaitic Period to the Present Time, Alphabetically Arranged]] |volume=IV |year=1992 |orig-year=1969 |publisher=Yad Harav Herzog (Emet) |location=[[Jerusalem]] |pages=360–380 |isbn=0873067142}}</ref><ref name="Feldman2017">{{cite web |url=https://wrldrels.org/2017/10/08/the-bnei-noah-children-of-noah/ |title=The Bnei Noah (Children of Noah) |last=Feldman |first=Rachel Z. |date=8 October 2017 |website=World Religions and Spirituality Project |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200121162034/https://wrldrels.org/2017/10/08/the-bnei-noah-children-of-noah/ |archive-date=21 January 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=7 November 2020 }}</ref><ref>Compare [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] {{bibleverse-nb||Genesis|9:4–6|HE}}.</ref> The Seven Laws of Noah include prohibitions against [[Idolatry|worshipping idols]], [[Blasphemy|cursing God]], [[murder]], [[Adultery#Judaism|adultery]], [[bestiality]], [[Fornication#Judaism|sexual immorality]], [[theft]], [[Eating live animals|eating flesh torn from a living animal]], as well as the obligation to establish [[Judiciary system|courts of justice]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Reiner 1997">{{cite book |author-last=Reiner |author-first=Gary |chapter=Ha-Me'iri's Theory of Religious Toleration |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnYSxFMq48gC&pg=PA86 |editor1-last=Laursen |editor1-first=John Christian |editor2-last=Nederman |editor2-first=Cary J. |year=2011 |orig-year=1997 |title=Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment |location=[[Philadelphia]] |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |pages=86–87 |doi=10.9783/9780812205862.71 |isbn=978-0-8122-0586-2}}</ref><ref name="Hayes 2017">{{cite book |author-last=Berkowitz |author-first=Beth |chapter=Approaches to Foreign Law in Biblical Israel and Classical Judaism through the Medieval Period |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RdccDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA147 |editor-last=Hayes |editor-first=Christine |editor-link=Christine Hayes |year=2017 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=147–149 |isbn=978-1-107-03615-4 |lccn=2016028972}}</ref> The [[Rabbinic Judaism|Jewish sages]] expanded the concept of universal morality within the Seven Laws of Noah and added several other laws beyond the seven listed in the Talmud and [[Tosefta]],<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/> such as prohibitions against committing [[Jewish views on incest|incest]], [[cruelty to animals]], [[Hybrid (biology)|pairing animals of different species]], [[Grafting|grafting trees of different kinds]], [[castration]], [[emasculation]], [[Homosexuality and Judaism|homosexuality]], [[pederasty]], and [[Witchcraft#Judaism|sorcery]] among others,<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Goodman (historian) |chapter=Identity and Authority in Ancient Judaism |year=2007 |title=Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVI2a9jc4pMC&pg=PA30 |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity |volume=66 |pages=30–32 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004153097.i-275.7 |isbn=978-90-04-15309-7 |issn=1871-6636 |lccn=2006049637 |s2cid=161369763}}</ref><ref>[[Sanhedrin (Talmud)|Sanhedrin]] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html 56a/b] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106145103/http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html |date=6 November 2017 }}, quoting [[Tosefta]], ''[[Avodah Zarah]]'' 9:4; see also [[Rashi]] on Genesis 9:4.</ref> with some of the sages going so far as to make a list of 30 laws.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/> The Talmud expands the scope of the Seven Laws of Noah to cover about 100 of the [[613 commandments|613 Jewish commandments]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Grishaver |editor1-first=Joel Lurie |editor2-last=Kelman |editor2-first=Stuart |year=1996 |title=Learn Torah With 1994-1995 Torah Annual: A Collection of the Year's Best Torah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pxv3NpOLdEC&q=maimonides+seven+laws+differ+from+the++talmud&pg=PA18 |publisher=Torah Aura Productions |page=18 |isbn=978-1-881283-13-3}}</ref>

The [[United Nations]]' [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] can be read as assuming characteristics and attributes akin to moral universalism. The drafting committee of the Universal Declaration did assume, or at least aspired to, a "universal" approach to articulating international [[human rights]]. Although the Declaration has undeniably come to be accepted throughout the world as a cornerstone of the international system for the protection of human rights, a belief among some that the Universal Declaration does not adequately reflect certain important worldviews has given rise to more than one supplementary declaration, such as the [[Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam]] and the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights#Bangkok Declaration|Bangkok Declaration]].<ref name=UN/>

In his ''[[Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals]]'' (1785), [[Immanuel Kant]] attempts to derive a supreme principle of morality that binds all [[rational agents][her][we]. groundwork

Similarly, [[divine command theory]] presents a form of universalism, by way of the unconditional morality of God's commandments. It revolves around the idea that morality is synonymous with following God's commands. While various religions may have Gods that endorse different beliefs and behaviors, divine command theory encompasses all instances of a deity dictating a society's morals. Plato's "[[Euthyphro dilemma]]" is a dialogue written to point out the inconsistencies of this philosophy.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Euthyphro|date=1924-01-01|chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00254375|worktitle=Plato: Euthyphro; Apology of Socrates; and Crito|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00254375|isbn=978-0-19-814015-3|access-date=2021-08-21}}</ref>text/hate/supreme;k/her/suck

{{cite book |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Philosophy]] |chapter=Ethical objectivism and subjectivism |first=RW|last=Hepburn |edition =2nd |isbn= 9780199264797 |pages=667 ''ff'' |date=January 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press }}