What else could you possibly mean other than absolute basis?
Isn’t it possible to condemn Sauron’s moral stance as inconsistent (i.e. irrational)? If Gandalf, on the other hand, espouses and practices a consistent morality, isn’t that grounds for calling Gandalf morally superior to Sauron, without claiming the existence of absolute moral standards?
Well, except you’ve assigned “consistency” absolute moral value, the same way you might assign “saving the world” or “making rings that suck out peoples’ souls” moral value.
No, “consistency” is another cheap approximation of morality that doesn’t match our intuitions, even our intuitions informed by knowledge and reflection.
There could be agents with a perfectly consistent criteria for which actions it considers “right” and which actions it considers “wrong”, that would still allow morally abhorent actions.
Isn’t it possible to condemn Sauron’s moral stance as inconsistent (i.e. irrational)? If Gandalf, on the other hand, espouses and practices a consistent morality, isn’t that grounds for calling Gandalf morally superior to Sauron, without claiming the existence of absolute moral standards?
Well, except you’ve assigned “consistency” absolute moral value, the same way you might assign “saving the world” or “making rings that suck out peoples’ souls” moral value.
No, “consistency” is another cheap approximation of morality that doesn’t match our intuitions, even our intuitions informed by knowledge and reflection.
There could be agents with a perfectly consistent criteria for which actions it considers “right” and which actions it considers “wrong”, that would still allow morally abhorent actions.