When people disagree about moral issues, is there any rational way to resolve those disputes? Some think there are moral principles that any rational person must accept. But in “Can Moral Disputes Be Resolves?” Alex Rosenberg says there aren’t any such principles. The problem, according to Rosenberg, is that moral judgments are not true or false statements based on applying moral principles to particular circumstances. They are instead expressions of our responses to conduct. “Many people will not find this a satisfactory outcome. They will hope to show that even if moral judgments are expressions of our emotions, nevertheless at least some among these attitudes are objective, right, correct, well justified. But if we can’t find objective grounds for our emotional response to honor killing, our condemnation of it might turn out to just be cultural prejudice.”
The point of morality is to improve good and reduce harm for everyone. To the degree that we can objectively know what is in fact good for us and what is objectively harmful to us, we can assess the morality of any given solution to an issue of benefit and harm.
All rules and rights are promoted and defended, or criticized and rejected, based upon our best assessment of the benefits and harms of one rule/right compared to another.