Instructions: What we do often follows from our core beliefs; beliefs about right and wrong, about where right and wrong comes from, and whether what is right and wrong ever changes or are permanent rules or truths of reality/our world/human society, etc.
If I believe what is right and wrong are truths that don’t ever change, then I would probably try to apply my understanding of what is right and wrong consistently from day to day and from different situation to different situation.
But, if I believe that right and wrong are not unchanging truths but change in one way shape or form, then I might change my sense of what is right or wrong based on the situation I’m currently dealing with, rather than trying to consistently apply the same rules to it that I did in previous situations.
For instance, I might generally believe that lying is a bad thing to do, but I might come to a situation where lying feels like the right thing to do.
If you believe that the rules don’t change from situation to situation, you might say, “Lying feels right in this instance, but my feelings are probably blinding me right now and I’ve got to be true to my principles that it’s always bad to lie and always good to tell the truth. So, I’ll tell the truth and not lie.”
But, if you believe that right and wrong can change from situation to situation, you might say, “More often than not, it’s wrong to lie, but here’s a situation where telling the truth will cause a lot of harm. So, here’s a situation where lying is the right thing to do.” (It might also just be a situation where lying could make the situation easier, or provide some added layer of magic or enjoyment to things, like lying to your kids that Santa Claus is real.)
So, what do you think? Is what is right and wrong an unchanging set of rules that follow truths or laws that are eternal or immutable? Or, is there some change involved Do the rules change? Do the truths they are meant to follow ever change? Is it that the rules change because our understanding of the eternal truths of right and wrong always imperfect, or that they are evolving into better – but always approximate – expressions of eternal truths of right and wrong? (You don’t have to answer all of these questions. These are just here to help get the gears in your head moving.)
What do you think?
Sample Solution
