Is “right” or “wrong” fixed?

I mostly disagree. Morality is fundamental to human existence as members of functioning societies. Many of the particular rules followed in a particular society may be nonsensical, but there are a number of fundamental principles that the major world religions share in common. Jeffrey Moses (Oneness:Great Principles Shared by All Religions) has identified
15 Great Principles Shared by All Religions

1. The Golden Rule / Law of Reciprocity – The cornerstone of religious understanding. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” – Christianity
2. Honor Thy Father and Mother – Knowing them is the key to knowing ourselves. The day will come when we shall wish we had known them better.
3. Speak the Truth – “Sincerity is the way of heaven, and to think how to be sincere is the way of a man.” – Confucius
4. It’s More Blessed to Give than to Receive – Generosity, charity and kindness will open an individual to an unbounded reservoir of riches.
5. Heaven is Within – “Even as the scent dwells within the flower, so God within thine own heart forever abides.” – Sikhism
6. Love Thy Neighbor / Conquer With Love / All You Need is Love – Acts of faith, prayer and deep meditation provide us with the strength that allows love for our fellow man to become an abiding part of our lives. Love is a unifying force.
7. Blessed Are the Peacemakers – When people live in the awareness that there is a close kinship between all individuals and nations, peace is the natural result.
8. You Reap What You Sow – This is the great mystery of human life. Aware or unaware, all are ruled by this inevitable law of nature.
9. Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone – The blessings of life are deeper than what can be appreciated by the senses.
10. Do No Harm – If someone tries to hurt another, it means that she is perceiving that person as something separate and foreign from herself.
11. Forgiveness – The most beautiful thing a man can do is to forgive wrong. – Judaism
12. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged – This principle is an expression of the underlying truth that mankind is one great family, and that we all spring from a common source.
13. Be Slow to Anger – Anger clouds the mind in the very moments that clarity and objectivity are needed most. “He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; others only hold the reins.” – Buddha
14. There is But One God / God is Love – Nature, Being, The Absolute. Whatever name man chooses, there is but one God. All people and all things are of one essence
15. .Follow the Spirit of the Scriptures, Not the Words – “Study the words, no doubt, but look behind them to the thought they indicate; And having found it, throw the words away, as chaff when you have sifted out the grain.” – Hinduism For additional ones, see Connie Louise Kuckler, On Heart: Universal Wisdom from the World's Religions and C. David Lundberg, Unifying Truths of the World's Religions. I think life goes better when people follow these principles, which allow quite a lot of flexibility for individual circumstances ;

 

So then by some of these sayings..you would have to love Trump, right? Is he different than yourself? I was under the impression he was....

I think the only wrong is trying to hurt anyone..not just children or any other living thing or the planet...that is my morality code.
.....and I don't expect anyone to just lay down and die and turn the other cheek if someone is intentionally hurting them......which is kind of a brain washed way to be, if you do....by some of those sayings....there.

 

Well it's apparent that this Jeffrey Moses had no idea what he was on about. Guess speakin' out your ass has always been popular

 

Hate the sin, love the sinner. Yes, unfortunately, I'd have to love Trump. Putin, Kim Jong un, etc. I see these people as mishapen casualties of unfortunate genetic and environmental circumstances, and wish and hope they can turn themselves around. I believe in miracles. Meanwhile, I'll fight them tooth and nail for the sake of justice and the welfare of others.

So you think he is misrepresenting what the major world religions have in common? Care to explain? More speakin' out your ass?

 

Okie, would you love anyone who murdered anyone you cared about? I can't say i could ever.

 

Right and wrong is more about what is prefereable and what's not. If the far majority agrees on such a thing it can become a moral. No, right and wrong are not fixed just because some preferences are universally agreed upon.

 

Where do you all think our sense of right and wrong comes from? Even if it’s subjective, where do we get our ideas of morality from?

 

When in play my dog hurts me a little , I say ow !! , then she looks very thoughtful and goes calm . She
has never been punished . Her age is 6 years .

 

From what we find beneficial for us.

 

We know the sensibility of righteousness like we know respect
and togetherness .

 

I'd be willing to be that we all know what right and wrong are, but some of us just don't care. The Holocaust and genocide of Native Americans are two examples that come to mind. The people who were killing Jews and Indian children must have known what they were doing was wrong from a moral standpoint. I think they just didn't care because of conditioning or nationalism or whatnot. I think human beings only need justification to do something that is wrong; they don't need to be convinced that what is wrong is actually right.

So, is right and wrong fixed in its definition? I say yes. But it's the reaction to those fixed definitions that can vary. Right might be harder to nail down, but I think we all know what is wrong. Whether we care or not is a different story.

That's my two cents.

 

But I wonder if we are born with a sense of right or wrong that develops over time or is it nurtured? A great many people for example, feel that abortion is wrong while a great many feels that it is a moral “right.” That’s just one example where there seems to be two majorities that are opposing.

 

Fixed meaning, are there moral absolutes or should rights and wrongs change over time? They seem to change. I agree with your points here, though.

 

I mostly find Sam Harris argument in that video that I posted persuasive, that some sense of "right" and "wrong" was developed prior to us ever evolving into humans with the ability to abstract such concepts into moral principles.

I think most social mammals have a sense of "right" and "wrong" in a rudimentary form. I'd speculate that perhaps it develops from endogenous chemical reward and bonding systems.

 

No, there's just some things that are universally beneficial for people. Like circumstances we thrive in. On that we base our sense of good and bad.

Abortion may be good for the parents, but never for the aborted person Here it depends on thought or belief what makes the action immoral in someone's eyes. But it is certainly not fixed or objectively wrong. As the numbers on both 'sides' obviously show

 

I have similar views on this. I find that there are some moral absolutes in my mind but for the most part, so many things fall into the middle and require deeper thought than “that’s right or wrong.”

 

In nature , human is not the authority of morality . May the tiger forgive it .

 

In a purely philosophical sense, I would say no, there is nothing such as fixed or absolute morality. For instance, I take it as immoral to eat people but I've never found myself in a position such as the Donner Party, stuck in the snow with cannabilism being a last ditch effort for survival.

So I take morality as being "parametrized', that is to say there are certain parameters in which we develop our moral compass and if those parameters are subject to change than I think the morality nested within is subject to change as well. Some parameters of morality have a wider scope than others and I think these are the ones where people get a more general agreement on. So this explanation for the most part I think addresses this latter question.

...which is a great example of where the parameters vary in one's sense of right and wrong.

 

The freedom to do what one wants to with one's own body is what is in question here......I don't think it is right for the self righteous to tell people whether they can have an abortion or not....when thousands and thousands of animals a day are being slaughtered for human consumption with no thought at all given to them......It cannot be both ways....

Personally..I think the freedom of choice is ok for abortion...as long as the fetus is caught early to abort.......I am not saying I would have ever done this....but...i am also for less people in the world.....so why make someone give birth to someone they do not want in the first place? It is a very hard thing to think about.......and decide about....and there are no easy answers here, but I feel anyone in the situation here has to live with their own decisions here. It is not up to me to play moral policeman in this instance.

 

I agree with you to an extent, Moonglow. It’s one of those polarizing issues where there seems to be an even number of people on opposing sides. I’ve never thought it should be a government issue.