Thank you, Modus Ponens, for clarifying that point.Modus.Ponens wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:25 pm Perhaps it is. There are some moral rules on which there is no consensus, such as euthanasia. But others seem objectively true, or at least unobjectionable. For example, "One should not torture people for no other purpose than sadism". This seems to be objectively true, at least as objective as morality gets. If there are people who do it, or cultures that promote it, they're wrong.
One of the main problems today is that some people do say that there's nothing wrong with this if it's a cultural norm from some other culture and we have to respect it. We can even be berated for being against needless and sadist torture. Ironically, the people berating generally live very confortable lives by comparison. "Liberation for me, but not for thee".
This is a perversion of tolerance that serves only the self satisfaction of solipsists. It is also a sympthom of a sickness of the Westerm mind, i.e., postmodern nihilism.
EDIT: I have to add that this was not directed at you, Binocular, but at the radical relativists that do the berating.
On another related issue: there is a prejudice in Postmodern ideology, against claiming that one particular spiritual Path, might actually hold the highest and most important truths. (After all, remember how many wars were fought over that?) I must admit, this used to be a source of doubt for me. No matter how many times I would find yet another reason to be convinced of the Buddha-Dhamma, this prejudice - which I admit, had poisoned my own mind, having grown up in this culture - seemed to hold me back somewhat. It's no longer an issue, but I now feel disgust for a philosophy that used to sow that doubt in me.
In saying that I believe the Buddha-Dhamma to hold the highest and most pertinent truths, I'm not saying that all other Paths are useless - some folks find their belief in / worship of a 'Supreme Deity', helps them lead a more virtuous life, for example - nor do I intend to try to force my view on anyone else. But if asked, I'm not going to go along with that ridiculous pc-notion that 'all paths lead to the same goal', because that's an untruth that should be repudiated, and another example of Postmodernism's destructive thought-legacy.