That's a pretty bold statement considering what kind of fucked up shit is going on in the animal kingdom. Animals raping each other, or eating their children, for example. There are numerous examples of nature making animals do things that we humans would consider inherently immoral.

Just because we humans are social animals and are very dependent on each other and therefore don't hurt each other, doesn't mean everyone is. Immoral acts are only immoral from our perspective. From the perspective of evolution, it's not about not getting hurt, it's about insuring the survival of the species. By any means.

And I would argue the same for beauty.

Yes, the animal kingdom is vicious. That's beside my point, though. My point was that, to any sane person (I did preface my claim with that proviso), torturing and raping a child (a human child) isn't OK, under any circumstances. I still think that holds true.

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue with you that it's OK to torture and rape children, depending on context..

All this example does is it speaks to my broader point that we can establish somewhat 'objective' standards (about intangible things) that anyone with a sane mind can agree upon. Is it true objectivity? No (as has already been discussed). Does this matter? For everyday purposes, not really.