Ethics is Hard

I'm just over 150 pages into my 800 page bioethics book, and the more I read, the more I think about the nature of ethics itself. Many of the writers argue that a practice is or is not ethically acceptable. I can't help but think, "says you" whenever I read that. Based on our views and values, each of us has a different ideas as to what is morally and ethically permitted. 

From a secular standpoint, can there really be one definitive ethical standard? Example: it is quite easy to say that murder is wrong and have a lot of support for that statement, especially in light of all the recent shootings. Let's say that someone had the opportunity to kill the Sandy Hook shooter before he killed himself, or more innocents. Is that murder still wrong? Or are you now wrong if you have that opportunity and don't do it? Or what about this one: I read an article saying that both abortion and infanticide are ethically sound. At what point does a person cease to be an infant and become a small child? Is it wrong to kill at 2 years old but not 1 and 11/12ths? Is it wrong to kill at 9 weeks but not 8? Does a child have more value once it can talk? Or is walking the standard? 

In both of these scenarios, someone has to decide that one person has more value than another, and may in fact reach a decision that murder is the right ethical choice. Therefore, it is no longer universally accepted that murder is wrong. 

This is why I find ethics incredibly challenging; it is all intensely subjective and arguing is often fruitless, because it is nearly impossible to just change someone's worldview in an instant. 

I'm really looking forward to class in January!