Relativism and Absolutism Interchangeable with Some

I had an argument with a friend about the concepts of good and evil. She's convinced that evil is a term that implies absolute morals, which she then argues don't exist. Ok, that's her opinion and she's entitled to it. She explained that there are varying degrees of bad behavior that are related to different states of development. In her view, a child molester isn't necessarily evil. He or she could be a person with severe problems.

I say that there are actions that are good, and actions that are evil. For me, pedophilia is evil. I'm not saying that there aren't mitigating factors that relate to why someone becomes evil, but I do believe that even if a person was affected by mitigating factors, a knowledge of right and wrong allows that person to make a choice to cave in to temptation to commit evil, or to resist the urge. I don't believe that humans are run entirely by instinct and training. We can make decisions about our behavior.

I believe we make choices that are good and evil, even though I concede that sometimes ignorance can lead to evil action.

Where my friend shocked me was her assertion that very little progress is occuring with race relations in America. I said that we'd come a long way since the civil rights marches of the 1960's. She said that - I'm paraphrasing - we would only have significant progress when racism was abolished altogether.

So a pedophile is only a little off - not evil - because his behavior is bad relative to societal norms. But we haven't made racial progress (relative to the hell of mid-twentieth century Mississippi) because we haven't absolutely eradicated racism.

I hold the individual to absolute standards and the collective to relative measurements of progress. Her thinking is the exact opposite. There is a chasm of thought between us on this that we may never bridge.

It's that type of thinking that makes my eyes gloss over and gives me a headache. Sexually molesting a child isn't evil, but the failure to eradicate racism in its entirety is. Good grief.

Please think clearly, and thanks for reading.