Kalee M. Ewald
Professor Mark Kelley
PHIL101
18 October 2015
God vs. Morality While going over the topic I chose, other questions came to mind like: does God exist? What exactly is murder? What does Moral mean? Can morality be based on other standard than the belief in God? With that, can individuals with conflicting religious beliefs resolve a dispute over what morality is? In my assessment I will argue that morality has no specific meaning other than that it is the cultural standard or custom as applied to individual behavior over time. These new questions develop a new route of understanding by first examining into what a moral is. “A moral is defined as a societal code of conduct based on religious, familial, or societal standards applied to individual behavior, over the course of time” (Bernard). In this definition, the existence of God is not anticipated, nor is it required, to answer the question. In our world there are cultures of people that have developed very different moral standards. In the United States, for example, morality tends to be grounded on a religious dais and applied to all people in the form of Laws. In the U.S. it is illegal to “murder” someone though as yet I have not demarcated the term; therefore, by default it is immoral. If one were to go more Eastern, it might be learned that what we as a society find offensive, is perfectly in-line with their culture and societies and for that reason, not immoral. So morality really has no detailed meaning
Ethics can be defined as ‘Human moral conduct according to principles of what is good or right to do’. In Christianity there are certain ethical teachings, mainly The Ten Commandments, Beatitudes, and Jesus’ commandments of love. The Ten Commandments are derived from the Old Testament which defines what people must do in order to serve God faithfully and gives direction on how to live a life according to the covenant and in essence to be a good Christian person. In the New Testament the Beatitudes and Jesus’ commandments of love are found. With love being the main concept of these teachings, they and the Ten Commandments can be seen as alike as they
Questions about morality are at the very center of heated debates and discussions surrounding the topic of religion. This theme, the potential interlinking between religion and morality, is explored by Plato in his work Euthyphro. The foundational question that Plato asks is how is something determined to be good or moral: through independent reasoning or by divine prescription. I believe that the only rational position to take on the issue is to conclude that morality must be separate from religion. This position, however, spawns many questions about what role religion does have in life. Ultimately, I believe that having an independent morality standard does change the way religion is used, but religion is still an
There are many questions that could be asked about the topic of morality. Questions like, what are the central moral principles, who is the
When thinking about morality, it is necessary to consider how aspects from both nature and nurture, along with free will, may form ones moral beliefs and dictate ones moral actions. To understand how moral beliefs as well as actions formulate and operate within individuals and societies, it is imperative that a general definition of morality is laid out. Morality, then, can be defined as ones principles regarding what is right and wrong, good or bad. Although an individual may hold moral beliefs, it is not always the case that moral actions follow. Therefore, in this essay I aim to provide an explanation that clarifies the two and in doing so I also hope to further the notion that one’s moral framework is a product of all three factors; nature, nurture, and free will. The first part of this essay will flush out what exactly morality it and how it manifests similarly across individuals and differently across individuals. Contrariwise, I will then explain how morality manifests similarly across societies and differently across societies. Alongside presenting the information in this order, I will trace morality back to primordial times to showcase how morality has evolved and developed since then, not only from a nature-based standpoint, but also from a
“Objective Ethics refers to a view that a person's action can always be seen as right or wrong, regardless of the situation or the consequences. It focuses on rules for governing what is considered to be morally right, wrong, or obligatory. The person's subjective evaluation of the situation is not of much importance” (definitions.uslegal.com). Whether what God or gods say is right or wrong challenges the idea of an objective ethic because the Euthyphro Problem goes against it.
These individuals are known to be experts of morality. The chapter proposes two reasons as to why these individuals are called upon so frequently. One, for those who believe and have some sort of religious back round, and second, for those who believe in what is called a “scientific view” of the world. This chapter presents the idea that there is some popular belief that religion and morality go hand in hand and that in order to understand morality, you must understand religion. It is explained that when we view morality from a religious perspective, we give meaning to morality in a way that a “good man” made this world that we currently live in and that we are his children. While the book proposes the question that people who believe in God, or a higher power, base their values on what those religions state is right or wrong, whereas for an atheist the question still remains; how do these individuals weigh their moral compass and place their values?
Many Nations Under God “Morality” is a controversial thing. It is commonly thought of as the difference between right and wrong. Typically, moral actions were defined by religious beliefs and included positive guidelines following the same anti-violence, love not hate trends. Morality is constantly changing by society, by an individual, and over time. This change explains why it seems that morality has been lost.
“What is the Purpose of Morality?” discusses the importance of morals, as well as defines what morals are. Throughout the text, the author makes the argument, and demonstrates through the incorporation of other texts, that the success of a society depends on how ethical that society is in nature (37). Morality keeps society together in an orderly fashion, resolves conflicts, and differentiates what is right from what is wrong (43). The author does acknowledge that morals limit human nature, but that this is for the benefit of society, because it suppresses any internal evil (42).
Throughout the history of the world, people have been concerned with what it is to live a moral life. Many answers have been put forth for this question, but the best by far is found in the Christian Bible. This is because the Bible is a revelation from the Creator. While people can grope in the dark to find answers to moral questions by looking at natural law, they are always frustrated because the real nature of the world we live in is fallen and corrupt. We have an adversary who tries to deceive us and minds that are easily deceived. Even at our most rational, we make mistakes in logical inference, and need to be corrected. In this paper, we will look at biblical ethics in terms of meta-ethics, deontology, virtue theory, and
Morality is basically what is right and wrong. Since early age, we have learned what was moral and what is not. Therefore, when we grow older, when someone claims something is moral, we believe that it is a “good” thing. As a result, many politicians utilize “moral” in order to gain support and persuade voters. Just as Luttrell stated, we grow up believing that morality is “untouchable”, making us, at first, not want to deny something that is moral. Even though I was not surprised by this article, it has taught me to look pass the “morality lens”, and not agree with something
To many individuals, morality and religion are two related but distinct ideas. To be specific, morality consists of principles set by societal norms concerning the distinction between right and wrong and good and bad behaviour among persons. Alternatively, religion involves the relationship between human beings and a transcendent reality or a superhuman controlling power, God. In many societies in the past and present, the idea of God is used to help reinforce moral codes as valuable and vital through rituals and methods of presenting the teachings of God. By many, religion is used to instil fear
These were handed down by God to govern the ways that people behave. But other religions that are not similar to Christianity have ethical codes as well. For example, many religions have elaborate sets of bans that govern their adherents behaviors. Although religion means something different to those of faith, it carries a immeasurable and persuasive movement of moral and ethical standards that guide the way for humans. While there may be such a wide range of belief systems, religion has a complex set of spiritual and cultural rules and rituals. There are several types of religions in the world today, most of which worships and practices differently. Most of the traditions, beliefs, and rituals these religions are consisted of our
When Iris Murdoch speaks of morality, she acknowledges it as a gateway to religion. She assumes that we connect our moral behavior to our own wisdom and experiences or to the control of religion. Friedrich Nietzsche, a highly pessimistic immoralist on the other hand, believes that our lives should not be controlled by such religious moral codes set forth by the Church. We, as people, should have the will to power when it comes to morality. Although Iris Murdoch’s Morality and Religion and Friedrich Nietzsche’s Morality as Anti-Nature have similarities as regards to their theme, Murdoch’s very neutral position on the effects of religion toward morality and hopeful attitude to God’s existence allows constructive criticism to be made by Nietzsche.
There are many ways that a person could perceive what justice is. This is because justice is a notion of one’s moral rightness based on their ethics, religion and laws. Usually religion is the cause for the many different views of what should be morally right and wrong. These different views of morals have sparked many arguments over the centuries resulting in what could be a never-ending feud between the theists and the anti-theists. Many authors who have dabbled with the subject, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, argue from a naturalistic perspective, and believe that humanity is responsible for controlling their nature-given passions, and also states that religion is anti-nature. (Nietzsche) Then there are other
Morality refers to the concept of proper human action in terms of "right and wrong," also referred to as "good and evil. According to Hobbes (1994:11), morality is simply a declaration of rules and beliefs that are considered absolute guides for human behaviour. According to Hare (1981:27), “Morality is a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions, are right or wrong.” Moral values and graciousness, in the past, were prominent in most teenagers. Every individual has capacity for growth. But a seed cannot grow without nurturing. And farmers don’t get to neglect their crops. So moral values has to be inculcated from infancy. Many years