Anti-Moral Realism

Socrates was put to death for “not worshipping the gods of the state” and “corrupting the young.2” The more powerful people of Athens disagreed with, and disapproved of Socrates’ beliefs and handed him a jug of poison. Plato believed that good/morality starts from the powerful government and trickles down to the average person. Women’s and civil rights were both products of the support of more powerful people of these causes. Each new Supreme Court reflects the values of the majority of its members, now liberal, now conservative. The “right” view is the view held by those currently in power1.

The most powerful individuals or groups of individuals determine the rights and truths of a society. This sounds a bit discouraging to the powerless folks of the general public. It sounds hopeless and immoral. It sounds too real to be real…like something a friend said the other day (roughly translated), “Even your mother won’t feed you until you ask.” Some would say that average people do have power, but only in large groups. This is more offending! It would mean, firstly, that I do not have any power, because I would need a tail in the form of a group; and, secondly, that I am not unique, because I am being roped into a lasso with countless others.

Plato believed that change should start with government and then seep into the person. The government is more powerful and thus the people would obey the laws of the government. The problem with this thought is that governments do not last forever and societies are never stable. Once the government topples, the law is gone and the citizens have free reign to do whatever they would like. When the cat is gone, the mice come out to play. When the change is made within the person, the change lives m...

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...utting a cow in a small encasement where she can barely move, artificially impregnating her for the rest of her healthy life for her milk, and shipping her babies off for veal meat. What is more is that when she is too sick or old to serve, she is shipped off to have her neck slit until all the blood drains out of her while she is still conscious and she inevitably dies. This is as sane and as correct in my view, as it is when the cow is replaced with a woman. Bordering on veganism, I could never bring myself to believe this stance.

Works Cited

1. Soccio, Douglas J. "Moral Realism: Might Makes Right." Archetypes of Wisdom. 6th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2007. 91. Print.

2. Soccio, Douglas J. "The Trial and Death of Socrates." Archetypes of Wisdom. 6th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2007. 124. Print.

3. Gandhi, Mohandas K.