MENGHADAPI CABARAN PENISBIAN NILAI (MORAL SUBJECTIVISM): AGAMA SEBAGAI ASAS KEKUATAN AKHLAK

Abstract

This article discusses the continuing philosophical debate concerning the objectivity of moral values. It examines whether an objective, universal and permanent system of moral values really exist or otherwise. After tracing briefly the historical roots of moral subjectivism from its Greco-Roman origin to the Modern Era, this deliberation proceeds by emphasizing the basic premises put forward by major Western philosophers in their arguments to support the subjectivity of values. Followed by some observations on the implications of this pervasive idea upon the greater part of the Western society, this article subsequently deals with a number of essential criticisms on the shortcomings of moral subjectivism as posited by those Western philosophers and scholars. It concludes the religious positions on morality, especially Islam, vis-à-vis the intellectual trend of relativism of values and prescribes how Muslim should place them self amid this polemic of moral values.