Ethics Exam 2

Paul declares that this—rather than the law—gives life

The spirit

Christian ethics is based primarily on this

scripture

Paul saw this as the new moral dynamic that Christians enjoy

Cross and resurrection

In the early church (especially Paul) this is the basis of the moral life

salvation

Jesus replaced the ethic of his contemporaries with an ethic associated with this

God's promise and love; Ethics of kingdom

Instead of searching for the good life and cultivating virtues the hebrews were concerned with this

righteosuness

This is the basic theme of the ethical life in the Hebrew scriptures

God in covenant

Paul saw this as the goal of the moral life

Christlikeness

The context of Jesus' ethical teaching is his conflict with these people

Jewish religious leaders

the four ethical issues over which Jesus disagreed with his contemporaries

1. foundation of ethical life

2. human merit and divine rewards

3. who are the people of God

4. the intent of the law

deontological ethics

-non-consequentalist

-focused on rules

divine command theory

-God estabs. moral laws that are universally binding

-something is good if God wills it and bad if God wills against it

How do we know what God wills?

(Divine Command Theory)

-usually expressed in that religion’s sacred writing

-religious community interprets them for their meaning + application

-sole purpose for obeying God’s law is that God wills it, not necc. to promote our own good

Advantages of divine command theory

-morality seems to be independent of what only individual thinks or likes and what any society happens to sanction

Problems with Divine Command Theory

• different sacred scripture exist, which one expresses Gods’ command

• interpretation is always necessary so there is still a subjective elements

is a command good because God commands it, or does God make a command because it is inherently good?

1st: suggests anything would have to be called “good” if God commands it

2nd: suggests there is a standard outside of God

3rd: God commands what is good and the standard of good is his own being

Natural Law

-rules of morality are embedded in nature itself

-rules are universally available

Representative of Natural Law

Thomas Aquinas ( Summa Theological)

Summa Theological (under nat. law)

-God’s law can be learned through human reason

-God created human beings with natural inclinations to certain “ends”

-”Ends” are fufillments of actions, which are governed by laws

-God gives only good inclinations

-Gods laws are eternal, exists in humans as natural laws

-natural laws are in everyone and cannot be erased

does natural law have bibical bases

-Romans 1:18-20

-Romans 2:12-15

-letter from Birmingham jail

Human Vitae (human life/nat. law)

encyclical by pope paul vl addressing regulation of birth

Human Vitae standards

-marriage and sex ordained for procreation

-parents must acknowledge their duty to God; bound to God’s will

-marital union and potential procreation cannot be separated, no sex that intentionally avoids conception through unnatural means

-sex itself is noble, and is not illegitmate in cases of infertillity

impications of humanae vitae (to what purpose or extent)

OUT: abortion

OUT: sterilization

OUT: anything inteneded to prevent procreation

IN: observing natural cycles of reproductive system

strengths of natural law

-not limiting by competing religious texts

-universal scope that applies to all human beings

-affirms that moral standars are based in reality and are objective

problems with natural law

-just bc something exists in a certain way does not neccessarily mean that it is good

-though nat. laws may be obj. our sub. understandings of their implications vary

covenant ethics

-not just a set of rules

-relationship of lasting committment in which rules are part of the faithfulness to the covenant

-require more specific things of us and impose obligations that are not universal

how is covenant ethics different from natural law?

-not just locating moral law in an order that is part of reality

-it locates the moral rules in a relationshop of faithfullness between people or between individuals and God

different ways of thinking about rules

divine: God’s authority distinguishes btw right and wrong

natural: connection between how we live as reasonale humans and the order God places us

covenant: calls attention to how rules shape our idenity as persons in community

areteological ethics

• virtue ethics

• emphasis on kind of person

brief history areteological ethics

• aristotle

• christian moral theology incorporated greek ideas of cirtue

• thomas aquinas

modern period of virtue ethics

• modern ethics was not concerned with the kinf od person one was

• modern ethics produced only disagreements (Alasdair Macintrye)

virtue

• desirable charcter trait that guides individual decisions over a period of time

• learned behavior acquired the way one might learn a skill

christian contributions to virtue ethics

• SIN is primary obstacle

• something is fundamentally wrong with humans, and thy cannot remedy the problem on their own

• cultivating virtues does not happen on its own

• virtues are attainable becasue God offers grace

Cardinal Virtues

1. prudence (wisdom)

2)Justice (giving to all what is due to them)

3. Fortitude (doing good despite obstacles)

4)Temperance (restraining nat. desires and appetites)

Theological virtues

• christian moral theology adds them to moral

• given to us by God to assist our relationship with God

• from a christian perspective they are basis of moral virtues

• those pracitcing these virtues are describes as “beginner, advanced, perfect”

3 theological virtues

-faith

-hope

-love

advantages of virtue ethics

-epmhasizes character traits and the importance of developing virtues in our own lives

-encourages one to consider the larger scope of the moral life, not just isolated decisions

• reminds us of the importance of community and early training

weakness of virtue ethics

-cultural relativism

-though local understandings of the virtues may vary, the virtues themselves are not relative to culture

• au account of the virtues must derive from the community in which those virtues are to be practiced

• does not tell people what to do