by Logan Mansfield

Created on: December 09, 2009

There is a crisis of morality in our society.  We have moved away from a  modernist philosophy of constants and absolutes. We have instead moved toward a post-modern philosophy of relativism and subjectivity that already has degenerated morality at it's core. Morality by nature must be metaphysically absolute. When we start to tell ourselves that it isn't, when we go against our consciences and moral law, we slowly kill any viable sense of morality in culture. There is that rationale that we are simply changing our morality from generation to generation. However, I propose that these changes are exactly what is degenerating morality all together making it hard to survive in our current society. I think in general morality will not completely die off as there will always be a people group that will try to stand fast to their morals and values, but as a whole in this over arching society of ours, morality assuredly has been gasping for air.

First, consider the incredible amount of people that our in our prison systems. Prisons are overflowing with people who have stolen, killed, raped, and committed every other crime under the sun. We have some of the most crime ridden cities in the world. We've been trying to clean up these cities, but it doesn't seem to help much. There is no anchor, no value system, no real societal message for people to cling to anymore. Their moral system is broken. Thus, our society suffers under its weight.

Second, we have accepted and embraced the philosophy of moral relativism, which ultimately isn't a morality at all. Morality demands some type of structure, system, and code. If my morality isn't your morality and that spans across thousands of people, then there is no morality at all. With this there is no absolute or universal message that we can really spread to keep morality in society. With no anchor for a society  to grasp to then they have to come up with their own devices to survive in the violent waters. Morality struggles to survive.

Third, any sense of morality or values in our society seems to be more of a smoke screen. People try to say they have values to show others they have some kind of character, but in reality they rarely actually hold to these values. No one wants to be held to any system. Humanity is a rebellious race. Morality had once held weight as a strong backbone to society, but now it's just used as a way to trick people into thinking your a good person. Morality has not real value or meaning anymore. Thus, what relevancy does it have anymore? None.

We live in a world full of violence, corruption, wickedness, and death that happens every second of everyday. Morality holds no weight anymore. It's practically scoffed at as out dated and old fashioned. Unless future generations rethink our current philosophy on morality, I have trouble thinking that morality will survive in the present day world.

Learn more about this author, Logan Mansfield.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.