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Comparative religions
Comparing the three western religions
Morality and moral decisions
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Throughout the development of mankind, the topic of right versus wrong, good versus evil, and improper versus proper has been intensely discussed and debated. Within the realms of religion, morality becomes objective and easier to explain. However, outside of religious parameters, secular morality can vary dependent of the individual’s multifactorial background. As a result, many do not grasp that to understand the foundations of morals they must be studied carefully, as to recognize the vast genealogy behind them, and to gain knowledge of basic moral principles. Generally speaking, morals are personal the compass of an individual's right and wrong, in respect to secular views. On the other hand, religion is more centered around ethics, the rules of conduct recognized in …show more content…
The answers to moral problems, we are told, need not be derived from theological foundations. Religious concepts such as God have no legitimate bearing on the content of morality for a secularist. A key thing to remember is that absolute free will ends where society begins, and that morality always subtly shifts throughout time (The History of the Free Will Problem). Moral thought is commonly, in most cases, seen as a subjective matter. Standing in contrast to objectivity and realism, independent of human nature and fact. Many times thought can be objective when taking the natural world into consideration. If you were to say twelve times 3 equals thirty-six, this conclusion is drawn from a factual base and a fact of our own experience. Your thoughts on this subject are drawn from a base prior to and independent of your knowledge, and in that respect, objective. With subjectivism, by contrast, are moral truths held by an individual based on personal experience. Consider the viewpoint that it is wrong to exploit those weaker than yourself. Although it is widely believed that this is a true statement, these judgments are not answerable
My father has always reminded me that religion plays a big role in one’s morals. Of course that only applies if a person is religious and has a religious background. There are a lot of religious people in this world, and if one were to ask them where their morals came from, they would say that it is based on their religion. So what is it that makes these two things so similar and distinct? Iris Murdoch, author of “Morality and Religion,” discusses how morals and religion need each other in order to work. Morals without religion is nearly impossible because; religion influences our morals, religion allows to set better morals for one’s self, and ideally morality is essentially religious.
In this essay I shall explore the question of moral responsibility and free will, by looking at, and comparing, ideas that stem from a Kantian philosophical position, and those that stem from a naturalist philosophical position. I will also consider the implications that follow from each position, when considering the issue of punishment. Furthermore, I will show that although Kantian and naturalist philosophers typically differ in some aspects, such as their concept of the source of free will, they find themselves in much the same position when it comes to determining when moral responsibility is applicable. However, when we turn to applying moral philosophy to the important practical issue of punishment, the Kantian position becomes incoherent as soon as we consider the possibility that free will does not exist. Conversely, a naturalist position, particularly one of the consequentialist tradition, remains capable of answering such an important normative question, regardless of whether its notion of free will turns out to be correct or incorrect. Ultimately then, I will suggest that it is the naturalist philosopher who is in the better position to tackle the normative question of punishment, that arises in applied moral philosophy.
For many years now, people have always wondered what ethical principle is the right one to follow. These individuals are all seeking the answer to the question that the ethical principles are trying to clarify: What defines moral behavior? The Divine Command Theory and the theories of cultural relativism are two principles of many out there that provide us with explanations on what our ethical decisions are based on and what we consider to be our moral compass in life. Even though these two theories make well-supported arguments on why they are the right principle to follow, it is hard to pinpoint which one should guide our choices because of the wide array of ethical systems. Therefore, what is morally right or wrong differs greatly depending
In other words,moral facts exist as truth that need to be discover. Shafer-Landau endorses moral objectivism in his book. He argues for moral objectivism based on two main points. First, moral objectivism is tolerant and open-minded. Since there is a basic standard that can be compared within objectivism, people can tell right from wrong easily. There are wrong answers in moral issues, and it is fine to be wrong. It is actually tolerance and open-minded for different opinions, which is superior than skepticism. Second, moral facts are general universal norms. To be more specific, they should be virtue guidelines instead of specific rules. It also explain the disagreement of moral issues: maybe what people disagree is the way they portray the general moral facts rather than the facts themselves. In addition, even though there are objective moral truths, it does not mean they have to be
Does religion play an important role in Morality? Is religion the reason behind truly knowing the difference between what is right or wrong? Everyone has their own opinion over this matter. Some people will argue that religion is highly essential while others believe it has nothing to do with the way people express their moral behaviors. Sam Harris claims religion does not play an important role in morality; however, he is incorrect religion is essential in truly understanding morality.
by the natural laws of the universe. Hard determinism claims that not only is determinism true,
All human societies and communities have basic ethical principles that constitute certain moral codes. People formulated these principles and rules many centuries ago; they are fundamentals that structure human behavior and as such are included in all major religious and ethical systems. One of these basic rules is “do not steal”, something children are taught from their very early age. In our rapidly developing and dramatically changing contemporary world, ethical issues and problems are becoming ever more important and urgent. Maintaining basic ethical principles in a variety of settings and conditions requires more than accepting major moral values; it calls for courage, commitment, character, and strong and flexible reasoning and judgment. Ethical principles have been developed by different philosophical teachings and theories that analyze and structure worldview principles including, as one of their basic parts, ethical issues. In their everyday life, people often use words “good” or “bad” defining by them what they understand as ethical, or moral behavior or that which is immoral or unethical. They normally make no discrimination between ethics and morality, although the former “seems to pertain to the individual character of a person or persons, whereas morality seems to point to the relationships between human beings” (Thiroux Jacques P.20). The simple definitions of “good” and “bad”, however, turn out to be complicated and even controversial when we try to formulate consistently the principles that underpin them or define standards for judging and evaluating these norms.
Secular morality cannot but help have elements of religious morality built into its very structure due to a multitude of factors. The two are very closely connected not only because of how the United States was formed but because of the largely religious population and how hegemonic Christianity is in terms of influence. This argument also depends on an almost unanswerable question of if morality is dependent on religion or if it only depends on human logic to dictate it. While it would seem that morality is independent of a religious foundation it does borrow liberally from its traditions but it is almost impossible to tell which begat which. Regardless, the two distinctly different moralities feed into one another, creating an exceptional type of morality that is uniquely both.
In ones adolescent years, an important figure or role model taught the values of morality, the importance between right and wrong and the qualities of good versus bad. As the years, decades, and centuries have passed by, the culture of morality and the principles that humankind lives by have shifted and changed over time. In the article, “Folk Moral Relativism”, the authors, Hagop Sarkissian, John Park, David Tien, Jennifer Cole Wright and Joshua Knobe discuss six different studies to support their new hypothesis. However, in order to understand this essay, one must comprehend the difference between moral objectivism and moral relativism, which is based on whether or not the view of what someone else believes in, is morally correct or incorrect. For instance, moral objectivism is not centered on a person’s beliefs of what is considered right and wrong, but instead, is founded on moral facts.
It is true that one’s moral system is based on religion though. I believe this because it is relevant everywhere. Very rarely will you find those hardcore practicing Catholics or Protestants disobeying the laws because they believe it is wrong. It is very noticeable that practicing religious people are very rarely the “bad ones” in society.
Free will and moral responsibility has always been one of the most basic and fundamental elements of philosophy. It is undeniable that there is a connection between free will and moral responsibility. Different philosophers throughout the ages have viewed this connection in both similar and differing ways. The first connection between free will and moral responsibility can be seen by Aristotle and Epictetus through their views of the voluntary and involuntary. It can then be seen in a differing view by Frankfurt in which a person is only free if they are free to have the will they want.
Does morality depend on religion? Why? Might morality not depend on religion? Why not? Is it desirable for our moral rules and principles to depend on religion? Is it necessary? I believe that morality can depend on religion, but I also think that it does not have to depend on religion. I believe that people do not usually look at what is morally right or wrong on a daily basis. The people that do, it is rare. It all comes down to how a person was raised, taught, and their surroundings they grew up with or the people they grew up with. I do think that it is desirable to some people that grew up in a religious household for them to think that morality depends on religion. I do not, however, think that religion is necessary for morality. I think that
Throughout this essay I will refer to the terms morality and ethics on several occasions. For clarity's sake I will explain what I think they represent. Morality is a learned characteristic. Society tends to equate moralism with the church. However, morality and ethics have less to do with religion than they do with a general philosophy on living. People can be without a religion and still be looked upon as moral beings. Morality simply has to do with being able to identify the difference between right judgements and wrong judgements.
Both law and morality serve to regulate behaviour in society. Morality is defined as a set of key values, attitudes and beliefs giving a standard in which we ‘should’ behave. Law, however, is defined as regulating behaviour which is enforced among society for everyone to abide by. It is said that both, however, are normative which means they both indicate how we should behave and therefore can both be classed as a guideline in which society acts, meaning neither is more effective or important than the other. Law and morals have clear differences in how and why they are made. Law, for example, comes from Parliament and Judges and will be made in a formal, legal institution which result in formal consequences when broken. Whereas morals are formed under the influence of family, friends, media or religion and they become personal matters of individual consciences. They result in no formal consequence but may result in a social disapproval which is shown also to occur when breaking the law.
When considering morality, worthy to note first is that similar to Christian ethics, morality also embodies a specifically Christian distinction. Studying a master theologian such as St. Thomas Aquinas and gathering modern perspectives from James Keenan, S. J. and David Cloutier serve to build a foundation of the high goal of Christian morality. Morality is a primary goal of the faith community, because it is the vehicle for reaching human fulfillment and happiness. Therefore, great value can be placed on foundations of Christian morality such as the breakdown of law from Aquinas, the cultivation of virtues, the role of conscience in achieving morality, and the subject of sin described by Keenan.