A Review of the Interrelation between Absolutism and Realism

One of the ways of classifying moral schools is dividing them into the two catagories proposed by the theories of meta-ethics: realistic and non-realistic schools. Each of these schools has consequences. Moral absolutism is among the outcomes of moral realism. Referring to the source of this classification, providing a sound definition of moral realism and explaining the meaning of absolutism in the light of the views of contemporary Muslim scholars, the present paper provides a cogent answer to the main questions in this essay: "Can we confirm the idea of the eternality of the principles of moral values"?, and " How can we infer the eternality of these principles from moral realism"? The views of three contemporary Muslim scholars, that is, Martyr Motahhari (may God's mercy be upon him), Ayatollah Jawadi Amoli (may God exalt him), and Ayatollah Misbah (may God prolong his life), have been criticized and analyzed. Each of them has tried to establish the idea of absolutism and ernality of moral percepts though each one provides a different explanation. The findings show that in general moral absolutism is considered as one of the outcomes and necessities of moral realism.