Morality is Objective

“Basically what we've got is: P1 Only living beings have morals P2 Living beings use reason to stay alive C1 Objective morals are founded on reason” That’s an accurate representation of the specific portion of my argument highlighted, sure. “The problem with this is that the morality is still not objective. While it is true that without life there is no morality, there is nothing inherently morally wrong with a discontinuation of life, and therein, morals. Let's bring this over to the system I used in my first round of argumentation.” My opponent accepts that morality is dependent on reason (“The fact is that morality is dependent on life to exist, and life is dependent on reason to exist.”), but attacks my argument on the basis that “[t]here is no objective reason for why moral systems must remain in existence.” He argues that any arguments in favor of objective morality are, at the outset, based on subjective whims, since there is no objective reason to favor morality over a-morality. Since my opponent’s rebuttals are reliant on the subjectivity of the initial choice to live/hold a moral system, if I can so that this choice is not subjective my case will be unscathed. In my first round, I included a short protection against these types of arguments that I will now expand on. I wrote: “Why should life be valued/pursued at all? Why should morality be followed? These questions undercut themselves - the asker has, by necessity, already chosen to value life. Every action and every reasoning must take place within the framework that life is to be desired for its own sake.” To rephrase this, by even being in a position to ask “is life worth living?”, you have already chosen the answer. Choosing to live or to die is a pre-moral decision – in that sense, my opponent is right in calling it non-objective. This does not mean, however, that it is a subjective choice. The very notion of subjectivity relies on a man having some system of values to base actions on. In choosing to do anything, one is stating that that thing was the most appropriate thing to do in that situation. My opponent offered the argument that “[e]mbracing moral nihilism is not asserting that nihilism should be chosen, because nihilism says that it doesn't matter” in order to counter the point that valueless systems are self-defeating, but this fails because the argument shows that nihilism cannot actually be followed, and, by extension, nihilistic moral theories are pointless and unreasonable, since no action (including the acceptance or justification of nihilism) can be taken to be better than another. It is impossible to justify nihilism via reason, since nihilism posits that reason cannot be used as a moral guide and that anything can be done for any reason – the theory places no value on reason, so, if reason is taken as a given (which must be the case, or else this debate is meaningless), nihilism is untenable. If a man is not able to justify his actions based on a system of values, then he is unable to act subjectively. If he has no way of comparing or ranking his desires or preferences, he has no way to translate them into action. He would be unable to make any decisions, and, if this is the case, he wouldn’t be able to decide whether to value life or not. The very idea that a man can make a pre-moral choice based on values such as desires is absurd – the choice to live or die sets the aim of any moral system, and, since values cannot exist without moral systems and moral systems cannot exist without one having already decided to value life, it cannot be that a man can decide to value life based on subjective morality. The pre-moral choice to value life or death cannot be evaluated in the way my opponent is proposing. It is made before any notion of subjectivity or objectivity would become applicable, so it cannot be said to be anything other than that which it is – a choice. This does not mean that anything built off of that choice cannot be said to be subjective or objective, just that it’s nonsensical to apply those designations to the thing which precedes them. If I have shown that morality, not pre-morality, is based in objective fact, then I have fulfilled my BOP. Nothing else is relevant to the debate. I’ve done this by way of the argument captured in the syllogism I posted in my first round (keeping in mind the presupposition that asking this question in the first place implies that all people must have morality/that the question only makes sense when that’s taken as a given): P.1: A valid morality is objective if it is not founded in preference. P.2: A morality based on reason, a valid morality, is not founded in preference. C.: A morality based on reason is objective. If these premisses hold and if the conclusion follows, then nothing else matters. Thanks for the debate!