Uploaded September 2017 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
Are the actions of people who live or lived in different times, places and cultures from us to be judged only on completely different standards? The Middle Way approach suggests a third alternative beyond the traditional options on this question in Western thought: absolutism (which claim a single moral moral truth for all times and places) and relativism (which would claim the standards do differ). However, that answer does depend on being clear what we mean by relativism, and distinguishing relative truths from relative justifications. It is argued here that there is a kind of moral universality, but this is found in embodied experience rather than the truth or falsehood of conceptual formulations.
Are the actions of people who live or lived in different times, places and cultures from us to be judged only on completely different standards? The Middle Way approach suggests a third alternative beyond the traditional options on this question in Western thought: absolutism (which claim a single moral moral truth for all times and places) and relativism (which would claim the standards do differ). However, that answer does depend on being clear what we mean by relativism, and distinguishing relative truths from relative justifications. It is argued here that there is a kind of moral universality, but this is found in embodied experience rather than the truth or falsehood of conceptual formulations.
