“It is possible that the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism has sometimes been blurred because an excessively consistent practice of either leads to the same practical result — ruthlessness in political life.”

—  Richard Hofstadter

Introduction, p. 16
The Age of Reform: from Bryan to F.D.R. (1955)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is possible that the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism has sometimes been blurred because an…" by Richard Hofstadter?
Richard Hofstadter photo
Richard Hofstadter 34
American historian 1916–1970

Related quotes

Georges Bataille photo

“Concern for this or that limited good can sometimes lead to the summit… But this occurs in a roundabout way. Moral ends … are distinct from any excesses they occasion. States of glory and moments of sacredness surpass results intentionally sought.”

Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure

Source: On Nietzsche (1945), p. xx

Ken Ham photo

“Secularism, with its moral relativism, is in direct opposition to Christianity and its absolute morality. The battle is between these two worldviews—one that stands on God's Word and one that accepts man's opinions.”

Ken Ham (1951) Australian young Earth creationist

Carol Derby & Ken Ham, "The 'Evolutionizing' of a Culture", War of the World Views: Powerful Answers For An "Evolutionized" Culture (2006), p. 11 http://books.google.com/books?id=RTc_lsnp0r0C&pg=PA11

George Moore (novelist) photo

“It would appear that practical morality consists in making the meeting of men and women as casual as that of animals.”

George Moore (novelist) (1852–1933) Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist

Apologia Pro Scriptis Meis.
Memoirs of My Dead Life http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8mmdl10.txt (1906)

Daniel J. Boorstin photo

“While the easiest way in metaphysics is to condemn all metaphysics as nonsense, the easiest way in morals is to elevate the common practice of the community into a moral absolute.”

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American historian

Source: The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948), Ch. 3, The Physiology of Thought and Morals, Introduction, p. 111.

“Practically all traditional distinctions, whether economic, moral, social, or aesthetic, are today under assault as founded on a prejudice.”

Richard M. Weaver (1910–1963) American scholar

“Life without prejudice,” p. 4.
Life Without Prejudice (1965)

“Roper: This was not practical; this was moral!
More: Oh, now I understand you, Will. Morality's not practical. Morality's a gesture. A complicated gesture learned from books.”

Robert Bolt A Man for All Seasons

Act II
A Man for All Seasons (1960)

Geert Wilders photo

“Cultural relativism dictates that all cultures are equally moral and valuable—though in practice, Western culture is often presented as inferior to all others, stained as it supposedly is by racism and imperialism.”

Geert Wilders (1963) Dutch politician

Source: 2010s, Marked for Death (2012), Ch. 11: "The Facilitators", pp. 177–178

“Weber… formulated the idea of methodology to serve, not simply as a guide to investigation but as a moral practice and a mode of political action.”

Sheldon S. Wolin (1922–2015) American political philosopher

Sheldon Wolin, “Max Weber: Legitimation, Method, and the Politics of Theory,” Political Theory (1981)

Henry Adams photo

“Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.”

Henry Adams (1838–1918) journalist, historian, academic, novelist

The Education of Henry Adams (1907)

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach photo

“The world would be in better shape if people would take the same pains in the practice of the simplest moral laws as they exert in intellectualizing over the most subtle moral questions.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Es stände besser um die Welt, wenn die Mühe, die man sich gibt, die subtilsten Moralgesetze auszuklügeln, zur Ausübung der einfachsten angewendet würde.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 30.

Related topics