Moral universalism is the claim that that there are moral values that are independent of any given social or historical context. Many religious ethical systems make this claim but so do deontologists and utilitarians. Sartre, an existentialist, states that because all human beings have the same needs and desires they share a universal human condition which makes all people everywhere morally equivalent. The United Nations Declaration of human rights is an example of a universalist approach to ethical issues in the modern world.
Moral relativism refuses to make any large claims about the human condition and views morality as socially, geographically and historically variable. In acknowledging the differences between moral laws in different times and places the moral relativist usually reserves judgement on varied systems of morals so that no system can claim to be better than any other. Acceptance of moral relativism makes moral progress difficult or impossible as, if all systems are equal, there is no reason to change moral beliefs.
Moral nihilism denies that moral values are in any sense a feature of the real world and states that no action is inherently right or wrong.
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