Q&A: Morality
Morality
Question
Hello Rabbi, I would be glad if the Rabbi could write what the definition of a moral question is. My question connects to another discussion here. I understand that according to the Rabbi, the question of whether relations before marriage are permitted or not is not a moral question but a religious one, and likewise the question of homosexuality. (Random examples.) The Rabbi wrote that he thinks there are moral facts, but I wasn’t able to understand what the Rabbi means. I understand that everyone agrees that murder is clearly forbidden, which would seemingly indicate a moral fact similar to the fact of the existence of a door standing before our eyes, but without a definition of what a moral problem is, it is hard for me to deal with this claim.
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Answer
Hello. The question is not clear to me. You brought examples, and that is enough to show that there are moral facts. Why does the definition matter? I don’t know how to draw an a priori boundary and define a moral question in general. Even the claim that there is no moral prohibition on relations before marriage could be a moral fact.
Discussion on Answer
Absolutely not. There are disputes about facts too. One is right and the other is wrong (or it is a question for which there is more than one correct answer). Just today or yesterday I answered this here at length:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99/
Okay, it seems to me that I didn’t understand something even more basic in the Rabbi’s words. When the Rabbi speaks about a moral fact, what does he mean? Two human beings or two cultures can know reality in exactly the same way, and still decide morally in different ways.
And when the Rabbi speaks about there being more than one correct answer to a moral problem, does he also mean two answers that are directly opposed to one another?
Yes and yes. See the link in the previous comment.
I’ll ask another question that may help me understand. Does a dispute between two people or cultures regarding a moral question pull the rug out from under the claim that we are dealing with a fact?