There is no right or wrong; just perspective and opinion?

Question

Do you believe this? If not, why?

First, let me apologize for being both vague and somewhat contradictive.

Further down the page is a perfect example of what I am trying to say, the farmer and the potter story.

What's right for one is wrong for another, so how can either one of them be right or wrong?

Is there any definatives, religion, personal feelings, humanity, all of that aside, with any subject, is there any definate right or wrong?

Answer 1

Your problem is one of linguistics which has infected your thinking.

The terms 'right' and 'wrong' both imply and require a subject... but because of the way the language is structured you are not required to supply it. Without the subject, the terms are meaningless - there is no universal rightness. But there is absolutely many other things that ARE right or wrong.

Here's one good example: Assuming standard rules of mathematics and notation, what is 2+2? This question has only one right answer, and it is definitely right. Even though that right answer is not the right answer for every question, its rightness for this question is in no way diminished.

So it goes for all right things - they are all right FOR something. Tell an engineer that there's no right way to build a bridge, and you'll get a laugh in the face and deserve it.

Answer 2

To say "there is no right" is self-defeating, since if that statement is right, then it is wrong. If it is right, then there is at least one example of something that is right, and that is what the statement denies. So it can't be right.

To say "there is no wrong," is likewise self-defeating, although in a somewhat more subtle way. The words "right" and "wrong" possess their meaning as part of a pair, like inside/outside, or top/bottom. To deny either half of the pair is to deny the other, and that is -- again -- to say that there is no right. Which, as I believe I've already shown, is wrong.

So what are perspective and opinion.

Perspective is very important in determining what propositions mean. But once a clear meaning is assigned, there can be a right or a wrong in the matter.

Maybe we can never be certain which is which. Which is wrong and which is right in certain matters. That would leave it a matter of opinion. It wouldn't be the case that there wasn't any wrong/right, only that we'd be left uncertain.

Answer 3

Let me tell you a story. There was God. One day he decided to listen to the first request of everyone and fullfill it. He started in a village. A Farmer was asking for Rain. He made a note of it. he moved ahead, and met with a potter and he said dont rain as i need the pots to dry.

Hope this answers you on what is right and what is wrong. What's right for the farmer is wrong for the Potter.

Answer 4

Yes and no. Yes, in that there are some common right and wrong things that apply to all of us human beings. No, take away us human beings and you take away right and wrong, for us. You must limit the question to "as pertains to human beings". In that case, yes there are absolute rights and wrongs. Why they and that are not more widely accepted and acknowledged is that people engaging in "wrongs" often try to tell themselves and then by extension everyone else, that their behaviors are not so wrong, or not wrong at all. Well they are. The reason we all don't jump up and confront people who do this, who contribute deliberately to keeping fuzzy what's right and wrong is that we ourselves would like to be able to disappear into that mist if we need to.

Answer 5

Almost everthing is relative. I.e. perspective based.

That said right & wrong have very specific relative meanings, much like up & down.

In the vastness of space, up & down mean very little. But if you are standing on a cliff, you are an idiot if you don't think they mean something.

It is right for me to kill something so my children can eat.
But the thing I killed will consider this act wrong.

So who's correct?
Are the terms meaningless because we disagree?

ABSOLUTLY NOT.

It's like left & right. The fact the words change with your 'perspective' does not render them useless or meaningless.

Answer 6

This question is a little too ambiguous.

"Right" and "wrong" require a subject: "Right for whom?" Right for you? For me? For a stranger? Depending on where you fit into the equation, your perspective will dictate right and wrong.

However, for the subject himself (you, me, the stranger), there is a very specific and identifiable (and "correct") right or wrong.

So the definitions aren't clear enough for "there is no right or wrong" (or its inverse) to have any meaning whatsoever.

Answer 7

Im starting to believe this more and more. Ahhhh letting it sink in.

Answer 8

Nonsense. There is definitely right and wrong. Think about the holocaust, or genocides in various countries. Those acts are wrong. It's not a matter of perspective; it's evil.

To some extent, it depends upon what the subject is. Liking chocolate or not liking chocolate are a matter of perspective and opinion. Child abuse is wrong.

Answer 9

no there are some things in my opinion that i believe are definitely wrong and can't be right in any circumstances. it is becaouse of my belifs ( i am a christian) like for example lying. not even to help somebody

Answer 10

"If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being: nature forbids him the irrational. Any group, any gang, any nation that attempts to negate man's rights, is wrong, which means: is evil, which means: is anti-life."