Abstract
The question of the consciousness of good and evil, and whether morality is universal, has been critical to man throughout history. Arguments have been espoused to the effect that good and evil are relative and so there are no universal moral standards applicable across cultures on the one hand; whereas other thinkers have argued that good and evil are objective and universal and, therefore, independent of any culture or individual on the other hand. Moral relativists, for instance, have argued to the effect that good and evil are people’s creations, and in their view, this is the reason why they vary according to time, space, and more so, even from one person to another. On the contrary, those thinkers who hold that morality is objective and universal maintain that moral principles and values are objective and apply regardless of one’s culture, race or even religion. This paper aims to interrogate morality, through the moral obligation, with the view of establishing the basic foundation(s) of morality to unearth the truth whether morality is universal or relative. The paper argues that our awareness of good and evil has its source in the moral law, according to which free acts must conform, which is the first principle of practical reason, and for that matter, is universal and objective. It is, therefore, sufficiently demonstrated in this paper that the moral obligation is really the first principle, founded on the very rational nature of man, and from it flows all moral virtue. Consequently, our consciousness of good and evil must be rooted in reason, through the moral obligation, and it is a confirmation that as human beings, we share one and the same rational nature for which reason morality is universal and must be known to be so.
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