Final answer:
A plausible moral theory must align with our moral experiences and provide a logical framework to guide behavior, drawing from objective justifications such as religious beliefs or natural laws. Although cultures differ, there may be universal ethical principles, and such theories should inform practical decision-making fields like medicine.
Step-by-step explanation:
A plausible moral theory should acknowledge the fundamental facts of our moral experience and provide guidance for behavior within a logical framework. This framework is essential for discerning what constitutes morally right actions. In seeking this framework, moral realists aim to discover objective justifications for moral values. These can be based on various foundations such as religious beliefs or laws of nature discernible by human reason.
David Hume's philosophical work contends that morality is bound to sentiments and not to empirical facts. It implies that while facts are statements about the world, morality revolves around how we feel about these statements. A normative moral theory, then, should offer coherent frameworks for interpreting morality, pointing toward a set of ethical norms that could be universally recognized despite cultural differences. Conceptual frameworks like Normative Ethical Relativism are challenged by experiences suggesting certain actions are universally regarded as wrong, thus affirming common moral ground.
The goal of evaluating moral theories is not just academic; it has real-world implications, especially in fields such as medicine, where moral guidance is crucial for making decisions in practice. An effective moral theory, therefore, should not only be consistent with intuition and experience but should also be applicable across various societies, ultimately serving as a reliable source of moral guidance.