Quote Originally Posted by saitenyo View Post
I think it's pretty clear-cut on things like actions that cause obvious harm to others, but the grey areas of morality, where things get more fuzzy, is where I maintain that it's more difficult to say there is a clear objective answer to this. For example: issues like the death penalty, killing of other living things for food, etc. Things people would consider "necessary evils," where harm must come to one living thing to prevent harm from coming to another. How do we judge that objectively? I don't know if we really can, and that's where I have take a step back and say, I may feel one way about it, but clearly others may feel quite differently and I cannot state my moral views on that issue as an undisputed fact.

In situations like those, people tend to rely on more varied methods of determining what the correct moral answer is, ranging from "How does this affect me or those I am close to?" to "What does this mean in the grand scheme of life?" or for some "What might a divine moral authority have to say about this in regards to how it fits into the rest of life's intended function?"
The way I see it, these "gray areas" are simply just more complicated versions of simpler quandaries, rather than another beast entirely. Just like the unsolved mathematical mysteries of today (like the Travelling Salesman Problem for example). These are things that we certainly don't yet have the intellectual capacity to comprehend, and it might be that we never will.
From our current perspective it might seem like any approach is as good as another, but in reality there is one way or several that are simply better than others. This we can determine from the model for objectively evaluating moral solutions I provided in post #7. And the only way we're ever going to have a chance at finding that solution is if we thrive to search for it.
The fact that we are as of now unable to see a clear answer to the issues in the "gray areas" simply shows that there is a horizon beyond which our current sight of understanding morality falls short. Throughout human history we have been broadening our horizons in mathematics, biology, medicine and even morality. People of today are generally speaking more moral than we were 2000+ years ago (for example, slavery was not seen as a problem back then).
Saying that all approaches are ultimately equal (which I acknowladge you didn't explicitly state, I'm just reading between the lines) is just counter-productive to the progress of our moral understanding of the world.

I don't think this has one easy answer. I support meddling in certain circumstances, but not in others. In this instance it would come down to how the primary affected party feels about the policy, and for this specific example, I don't support the notion of forcing women to dress a specific way to adhere to cultural standards. I believe women should be free to dress as they please. At the same time, and for the same reason, if a Middle-Eastern woman preferred to adhere to her traditional clothing requirements as a personal choice, I do not feel it would be any westerner's place to tell her she should not do that. I support the freedom of personal choice either way in that scenario.
Good answer. This is exactly how I see it, except I do think this is the one easy answer. It depends on the particular issue. I think Pnt put it well:
Quote Originally Posted by Pntball248
Cultural sensitivity does play a part in ethics. If one society buries their dead and one society burns their dead, that may not be a moral problem. Both societies intend to honor their dead in their own way, and no real harm is being done. If one society wears clothes and the other is naked, that is likely so morally benign that cultural sensitivity applies. Abortion, slavery, capital punishment, etc... do not fall under the umbrella of cultural sensitivity -- a person is potentially being harmed (that is the debate) and the moral dilemma is far too serious to write off as a cultural quirk. Where you draw the line can be fuzzy, but it does not allow for absurdity.
And yes I would too put mandatory burkas as something that does not fall under cultural sensitivity. Of course they can wear them if they want to, that's a given. But under the cohersion from men they are receiving nowadays it's not guaranteed that their decision to wear burkas is entirely genuine.