Ethics is the search for universal objective principles for evaluating human behavior, good or bad. The ability to interpret the morally correct resolution to a moral, when confronted by a moral dilemma, can be a very difficult task. In societies today, ethics are developed by ones religious beliefs, government, and through experience. Social ethics serve as the premise for morality. There are two common systems of thought regarding ethics. One is absolutism, and the other is relativism. .
Cultural relativism is the belief that right and wrong vary from one society to another and from one time to another. In practice, it is the belief that what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another person. The cultural relativist observes that some things that are considered wrong today in America, such as slavery, were not always considered wrong in America and are not always considered wrong in other societies today. In Middle Eastern countries, it is considered wrong for a woman to be out in public with her head uncovered, but elsewhere in the world it is acceptable and even the norm. From this they conceive that right and wrong must be relative, and that absolute right and wrong do not exist. .
Absolutism, on the other hand, believes that right and wrong are based on a truth that doesn't vary. The absolutist believes that what is right or wrong is always right or wrong whether or not a society recognizes it as such at the time. Absolutism is often founded in religious faith, believing that the truth of right and wrong comes from God, such as is found in the Ten Commandments. The absolutist views ethics much like the scientist views nature, that there is a truth out there waiting to be discovered and explained, and once explained everything else falls into place. For example, when an absolutist believes that life begins at conception, it becomes obvious to him or her that abortion is the taking of a human life and is, therefore, wrong.
