LEGO,

<<Within any population of people, there exists a percentage of the population who think entirely in absolutes. Morality is black and white.>>

What percentage? From where did you obtain info on absolutists?

<<Moral quandaries and moral priorities are concepts which are beyond their comprehension. Fifty shades of grey morality have no meaning to them.>>

You gave no example of this perspective. I’m committed to moral absolutes but your description does not fit my ‘moral priorities’.

<<You are correct in saying that right wing people can also think in absolutes.>>

I never wrote anything of the sort. That’s your invention.

<<Interestingly, people who think in absolutes utterly despise other absolutists who support absolutist causes opposed to their own.>>

Again, you gave no examples. Sounds like your opinion when you make assertions like this.

<<Don't bother debating them.>>

That’s what you say about absolutists. You haven’t been debating with your post by asking questions and seeking clarification. Your post was riddled with your assertions / opinions.

<<Throughout history, thinking people have battled the absolutists for the leadership of nations and organisations.>>

Again, you give not one example, but provide us with your opinion.

<<The reason why the Western world rocketed ahead of the rest of the world was because for four hundred years, western thinking people were able to exercise some control over the absolutists.>>

Your opinion again and without evidence

To Ozpen.

Thank you for your interest. It is nice to have an intelligent discussion with somebody who wants to learn.

My interest in Psychology led me to read books on Psychology, Sociology, and Social Psychology, which introduced me to the concept of the Absolutist personality. Without reference to the relevant book which I have not picked up in a decade, the concept was first named by a Jewish psychologist in Germany after WW2. His own research and interviews led him to believe that the percentage of people in Germany with "Absolutist" personalities was quite high (from memory about 30% of the population.) His research frightened him so much he fled Germany well before the Jewish exodus after Hitler came to power.

The only moral absolute that I believe in, is that of the absolute right of a free people in a democracy to discuss any social issue whatsoever, in order to make up their own collective minds on what constitutes right and wrong behaviour. Without free political speech, no country can call itself a "free society." Without free speech, it has begun the slide into totalitarianism. Every other moral issue is up for periodic re-examination.

You write that I "invented" your opinion that right wing people could engage in contradictory beliefs. What I did was make a reasoned assumption that you were implying just that, when you made the comment (on what I regard as stereotypical Absolutist behaviour) that " I don't think it's only the main territory of left wing, authoritarian fanatics." My assumption was that you were referring to fanatics of every stripe. If you were, then I wholeheartedly agree. The causes are different, but the absolutist mindset is the same.

You have asked me to provide examples of absolutists who despise other absolutists. OK. Catholicism and Communism. National Socialism and International Socialism. Shiites and Sunnis.

Finally some history. The North European people advanced much faster than any other prior or contemporary civilisation because of the Reformation, where scientific method and scientific inquiry began to replace absolutist theological explanations for the state of the natural world

I tried to read this article but I ended up giving up
- I just couldn't 'tolerate' the mental strain any longer

This guys articles make me feel like I got trapped and imprisoned inside one of his brain-farts.

LEGO,

I'm not convinced with the identification of an 'absolutist personality'.

<<The only moral absolute that I believe in, is that of the absolute right of a free people in a democracy to discuss any social issue whatsoever, in order to make up their own collective minds on what constitutes right and wrong behaviour.>>

How do you discern 'collective minds' in China, Saudi Arabia, the Congo or Australia?

I find that you are advocating relativism in disguise, ‘the belief that the truth is not always the same but varies according to circumstances' (Collins Dictionary 2019. s.v. relativism).

The logical conclusion of your 'only moral absolute' position is that this view must be allowed for everyone in the world. They choose what is morally absolute in their own eyes. ISIS chooses terrorism; Hitler, Stalin, Edi Amin and Pol Pot chose genocide, some men choose paedophilia, etc.

That's why we need absolute standards outside ourselves such as the Ten Commandments and Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). See: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt+5-7&version=ERV.

<<I regard as stereotypical Absolutist behaviour) that " I don't think it's only the main territory of left wing, authoritarian fanatics." My assumption was....>>

That's arguing from silence.

<<You have asked me to provide examples of absolutists who despise other absolutists>>

I also despise Nazi National Socialism, not because I'm an absolutist, but because it is judged as absolutely evil by the standards of Scripture (Ex 20:13; Matt 5:21; 19:18; Rom 13:9) but capital punishment for murder was commanded (Ex 21:14). There are examples of genocide in the OT as judgments from the all-wise God.

I find it much more stable and substantial to rely on the absolute commands of the all-knowing Lord God.

<<Because of the Reformation, where scientific method and scientific inquiry began to replace absolutist theological explanations for the state of the natural world.>>

I think you are speaking out of ignorance. Take a read of Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and the Puritans - leaders in the Reformation - and you'll read solid support for God's absolutes.,

Armchair Critic,

<<I tried to read this article but I ended up giving up - I just couldn't 'tolerate' the mental strain any longer>>

To put it simply: If I accuse someone of being intolerant of some of the views of The Australian Country Party, then in that action I'm being intolerant myself. I am being hypocritical when I accuse another of intolerance when my views also are intolerant.

So I can't be intolerant towards others without practising intolerance myself.

If that doesn't help, please let me know what needs clarification.

Oh, I get you Ozpen. You are a religious person, and you believe in moral absolutes like "Thou Shalt Not Steal". And you think I am insulting you by saying that people with "Absolutist personalities" have a screw loose, because you think that I am referring to all religious people. That is not so. Religious people are not all absolutists, only those who take their scriptures literally and with total seriousness that most certainly are. God may say in the Old Testament that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", but only a nut case Christian with an absolutist personality would take that so seriously that they would actually carry out God's command.

Even "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is not an absolute. If a person steals food from a place where it is plentiful because their kids are starving, then a Christian person might not consider them a thief at all, just somebody needing help. But if you think that the entire universe was created in six days because the Bible said so, and you don't care what 400 years of scientific research has discovered, then yep, you are an Absolutist.

The Koran is full of moral absolutes like "fight the unbelievers who are near to you, lay ambushes for them, strike terror in their hearts." Whatever God said in the 6th century, such sentiments are right out of date today. And the inability of Muslims to recognise that fact is holding them back from advancement, and making them the most hated people on the planet.

Today there are many secular Absolutists who's ideology is a substitute for an absolutist religion like Islam or Catholicism. Both Nazism and Communism resembled absolutist religions in that they demanded absolute loyalty and unquestioning obedience. And great woe would betide thee if you did not obey.

Morality is the generally agreed upon point at which individuals sublimate their self interest for the welfare of the group they identify with as a member. Morality changes as changing times alter the basic logical premises upon which the original morality was based.