Once the fashion of a postmodern age, moral relativism has always had its detractors particularly from those with a religious inclination. But now a new breed of celebrity thinkers this time with an atheist bent, from Sam Harris to Peter Singer, are making claims for the existence of absolute moral truths. Yet these very same philosophers would deride the strict, moral codes of Victorians and other past generations. Critics argue these thinkers, like fall authoritarian moralists of the past, use so-called 'objective' morality to shore up their own prejudices and silence dissent.
Should we welcome the return of objective morality as an antidote to the chaos and confusion of current ethics? Or is it instead an authoritarian fantasy that needs to be excised before it gains further traction? Or should we give up moral claims altogether, be they relative or absolute in favour of a calm assessment of the social benefits and threats of any given action?