Ethical Objectivism: There are objective rights and wrongs.

There is a great uniformity among the actions of men, in all nations and ages, and that human nature remains still the same, in its principles and operations. The same events follow from the same causes. Ambition, avarice, self-love, vanity, friendship, generosity, public spirit; these passions are distributed through society, have been, from the beginning of the world, and still are, the source of all the actions and enterprises which have ever been observed among mankind. ... [History’s] chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature, by showing men in all varieties of circumstances and situations that we may all see the regular springs of human action and behavior.
DAVID HUME, ESSAYS, MORAL,

Read chapter three for the next meeting--the Case for Moral Objectivism.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xezj7FPddS3dyGF0kbmpF8C4RId_GtCE/view?usp=drive_link

Distinguish between moral absolutism and moral objectivism.
The absolutist believes there are nonoverridable moral principles that one ought never violate. The moral norms are exceptionless.
Act utilitarianism also seems absolutist, for the principle “Do that act that has the most promise of yielding the most utility” is nonoverridable.
The objectivist, on the other hand, shares with the absolutist the notion that moral principles have universal, objective validity but denies that moral norms are necessarily exceptionless. The objectivist could believe that, although moral principles override all other considerations, no moral duty has absolute weight or strict priority; each moral principle must be weighed against other moral principles.
A minimally basic objective moral set:
1 Do not kill innocent people.
2 Do not cause unnecessary pain or suffering.
3 Do not steal or cheat.
4 Keep your promises and honor your contracts.
5 Do not deprive another person of his or her freedom.
6 Do justice, treating equals equally and unequals unequally.
7 Reciprocate: Show gratitude for services rendered.
8 Tell the truth or, at least, do not lie.
9 Help other people, at least when the cost to oneself is minimal.
10 Obey just laws.
These ten principles are examples of the core morality, principles necessary for the good life.
The core moral rules are analogous to the set of vitamins necessary for a healthy diet. We need an adequate amount of each vitamin—some humans need more of one than another—but in prescribing a nutritional diet we needn’t set forth recipes, specific foods, place settings, or culinary habits.