Moral absolutism

Moral absolutism holds that some actions are morally forbidden or required in every circumstance, regardless of consequences or competing considerations.

Moral relativism: The view that moral judgments or standards depend on cultural, historical, or individual frameworks. It denies that one universal moral code must govern every society.
Deontology: An ethical approach that assesses actions through duties, rules, or rights rather than consequences alone. Absolutism often takes a deontological form, though deontology need not be absolute.
Lying: The act of intentionally asserting something one believes to be false. A strict prohibition on lying tests whether truthfulness admits any emergency exception.
Human rights: Basic rights and freedoms regarded as belonging to every person. Their universal claims can support protections treated as non-negotiable.
Dirty hands: The problem of whether political agents may commit moral wrongs to achieve necessary public ends. It asks whether leaders may violate strict duties to prevent grave harms.
Consequentialism: The family of ethical theories that judges actions by the value of their consequences. It can permit breaking a rule when doing so produces better outcomes.
Moral realism: The view that moral claims can be objectively true or false. Objective moral truths can support universal rules, but do not by themselves make rules exceptionless.
Kantian ethics: An ethical theory grounded in rational duties, universal laws, and respect for persons, developed by Immanuel Kant. Kant's rejection of a right to lie is a prominent absolutist position.
Just war theory: A tradition of ethical principles governing when war may be fought and how it may be conducted. It debates whether rules against harming civilians allow exceptions in war.
Threshold deontology: The view that duties constrain action until consequences become sufficiently catastrophic to override them. It preserves strong rules while allowing exceptions absolutism rejects.

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