sprocket

I dunno.. everyone inconsistently applies their ethical code at some time or another, but does that really mean that everyone implicitly consents to relativism? Even if one rejects relativism, one can still be a victim of cognitive dissonance, or fail to recognize the implications of one's ethical code for a given situation. So I don't know if makes sense to call them a relativist - one can certainly say they act like a relativist in a given situation, but that's not the same, to me.

I am some species of consequentialist - actions are either bad or good based on their consequences to human beings. But I'm sure there are some times when I act like a deontologist (one who believes the nature of an action is either wrong or good, regardless of its consequences). But it isn't on purpose, and it isn't because I endorse that sort of theory.


Edit: Although, in the case of Christians - especially inerrantists - they often unknowingly defend cultural relativism when they defend the Old Testament, as you point out. They also unknowingly act like consequentialists, when trying to defend the genocides that God commands in the OT.

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Remember, wherever you go... there you are.

Willravel

My ethical code isn't written down somewhere (by someone else) to turn to when I feel it's convenient, though. My ethics generally come from a sense, but can then be interpreted through intellect.

Can a relativist violate his or her own code? Yes. That doesn't stop them being relativist, though. Relativism is a bit bigger than that.

Ourcrazymodern?

Kind of by the same token, aren't atheists relativists & if willing to expand the definition, another religion? I might be stuck in a rut, but anyism's like anotherism. Nobody who defines themselves as this or that is willing to admit they're like any other, BUT! I will continue contending that we're all the same, different.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

Baraka_Guru

You mean you haven't discovered the Atheist Bible? Dude, you have to check it out, it saved my life. I highly recommend the Generalissimo Stalin Version.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Ourcrazymodern?

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT