what ethics is
Ethics is a branch of philosophy. It is also called moral philosophy. Ethics, or moral philosophy, ask basic questions about the good life, about what is better and worse, whether there is any objective right and wrong, and how we know if it there is affe
four sources of moral reasoning are
Source: 1. Revelation/ Scripture 2. Reason 3. Experience 4. Tradition
What does Novak mean by his claim that humans are sexual and social beings? How does he Justify this claim?
Human persons are essentially (1) sexual being (2) social being (3) the image of god. Sex and Sociality are human needs and part of the natural order- fundamental part of what god created. sex is considered a natural right- this is important because the s
the connection between sexuality and sociality?
Connection: both sexuality and society are considered to be natural need that society as an institution is to help fulfill.
How does Novak arrive at his image of an ideal sexual relationship that is: human, Heterosexual, with someone outside one's family, consensual, monogamous, and bound Together in marriage, thereby expressing the enduring faithfulness of God's love for us P
Family is the institution that direct sexuality. Homosexuality is consider to be counter familial and counter procreative. It intentionality is purely sexual. Motif- become one flesh. Satisfaction in the personal sense is even more social than it is physi
How does Cahill talk about the five norms of sexuality in the Christian tradition? How haveThings changed from Augustine to Aquinas to the Reformers to contemporary Christians
Cahill-Central purpose :(1) procreation 2) satisfaction of sexual desire (3) expression of positive affective relation betweeb partners (love) additional criterial to be met: martial commitment usually permanent and exclusive (marriage) (5) heterosexual (
How does Pope Paul VI, in Humanae Vitae, arrive at the conclusion that marriage/sex are Connected to God? How is genuine freedom related to this?
There is a God component in married love. It's about the totality of human existence. People following genuine freedom realize that every sexual act must be for the procreation of human life
How do White and Jones use the same source of religious moral reasoning to reach different? Conclusions?
White - favor homosexuality. Jesus doesn't mention same-sex behavior. Jewish prophets say nothing about. people's misinterpretation of the Bible has left a trail of suffering, bloodshed, and death." As we search for truth, we are to 'love one another.'" T
Discuss how Hauerwas and Niebuhr both use Christianity to ground their positions on war. Why do their positions differ?
Hauerwas- pacifist- morally wrong to fight - Jesus teaching is to love
Niebuhr- Christian realism- morally wrong not to defend
Describe Niebuhr's Christian realism. How does it fit between optimism and pessimism, and why is the Jewish-Christian answer superior to the modern and Marxist answers
Neibuhr Christian realism - rejection of pacifism - Niebuhr argued that the Kingdom of God cannot be realized on earth because of the innately corrupt tendencies of society. Due to the injustices that arise on earth, a person is therefore forced to compro
According to Niebuhr, why are modern pacifists "unable to appreciate the complexity of the problem of justice"? Why does the modern pacifist view lead to tyranny?
The pacifist do not know human nature well enough to be concerned about the contradiction between the law of love and the sin of man. They do not see that sin introduces an element of conflict into the rols that even the most loving relation are not free
Hauerwas thinks that being a Christian means being a pacifist. Explain how he arrives at this conclusion.
Being Christian and being a pacifist are not two things for me. I would not be a pacifist if I were not a Christian, and I find it hard to understand how one can be a Christian without being a pacifist.
I am a neophyte pacifist. I never really wanted to b
According to Hauerwas, what is the "stuff" of Christianity? How does it bear upon a
Christian's response to 9/11?
Christian "stuff," it must surely involve the conviction that the Son would rather die on the cross than for the world to be redeemed by violence. Moreover, the defeat of death through resurrection makes possible as well as necessary that Christians live
Know what Augustine thought about war and killing.
War - that war is both the result of sin and the tragic remedy for sin in the life of political society .the theory of just warfare - both the conditions that must be satisfied if a war is to be entered into justly (jus ad bellum) -right to go to war-as w
Be able to explain the three positions on war (pacifism, political realism, and just war
theory).
Pacifism- believe that resort to violence and war is never justifiable
Political realism - some think that morality should be left out of discussion- our ordinary moral belief and rule are inappropriate. In war, the good is whatever action ensure victory.
Be familiar with Novak's 3 categories of war, Noahide law, and what he thinks is the
Fundamental principle at work in Jewish ethics
3 categories:
� Divinely ordered
� War of self-defense
� War permitted to secure the interest of the Jewish nation
Noahide law-(reason is a driver) the seven commandment of the sons of Noah- the life of gentiles - gentile under Jewish jurisdiction - They
Be able to explain Novak's argument for Jewish abstention in the Vietnam war an how it related to the victimizer-victim model
� The pursuer (rodef) and the pursued
� Both the Saigon government and the Vietcong claimed to be the authentic leader of the people of Vietnam. We had no way of verifying who was wrong and who was right. Poor position to be a third part. Involvement in V
Be Familiar with the US Catholic Bishops think about the Bible in terms of what is says about war and how it affects their understanding of peace
Catholic teaching on peace and war has had two purposes: to help Catholics form their consciences and to contribute to the public policy debate about the morality of war.
� old testament - God is often present as a warrior god War was tool of god in the h
Jus ad bellum and Jus in bello criteria according the US catholic bishops
Jus ad Bellum:Why and when recourse to war is permissible.
a) Just Cause: "a real and certain danger," i.e., to protect innocent life human rights
b) Competent Authority: with responsibility for public order
c) Comparative Justice
d) Right Intention: purs
What is Johnson's criticism of the Bishops' interpretation of just war thinking? How is Grotius involved?
� Johnson: emphasis on defense as the only just cause for war continues today.
� while the documents represent itself as coming out of catholic teaching, its understanding of just war actual looks very little like the settled concept of just war in it cla
Be familiar with Ramsey's ideas of love of neighbor and the ruler of double effect
Ramsey stress on protection of the innocent from unjust harm as the sole Christian reason for use of armed force is a particular theological statement of defense as the only justifying cause for use of such force
Innocent - Love of neighbor (n.t.) is the
Know what Walzer says about the category of Supreme Emergency
Allowed to "act in contravention of [our] value in order to seek to preserve them" (walzer 34)
supreme emergency as granting moral permission to violate the jus in bello rules. Michael Walzer's just war theory claims that, when one is unjustly facing the
What is immanent criticism and how does Kelsay use it in his approach to comparative religious ethics?
I.C. - engaging in the same reasoning using the same sources.
Immanent critique evaluates reality not with alien principles of rationality but with those intrinsic to reality itself. An immanent approach to social criticism exposes the way reality conflic
What is Sharia reasoning? What does it mean in Arabic? What are it sources? Who engaged in the practice in the past and who is engaging in the practice now? How does it have to do with the war?
the notion of Shari'a reasoning requires a balance between respect for the judgments of one's predecessors and the need for independent judgment (ijithad), reflecting the idea that changing circumstances requires fresh wisdom" (110)
Sharia reasoning an op
What similarities and difference are there between western just war theory and Islamic thinking on the conditions for and conduct in war?
Just war as part of the foundational narrative of Islam
Jus in bello
Muhammad prohibits cheating, the killing of children and other actions in war.
Three condition:
1) Legitimate Authority War must be declared by the leader of the community force the purp
Why do militant Muslims view Islamic governance as having such significance
Militant Muslims believe that Muslims have a duty to fight. They believe in reciprocity. For example, the people killed in the World Trade Center were a mere trade for people killed in the Arabian Peninsula.
Because they believe that all humans come from
How do Muslim democrats criticize both the tactics and the vision of militant Muslims
� Muslim democrats say that the "very notion" of Islamic governance is the problem
� In the practice of Shari'a reasoning, the legitimacy of an argument is a matter of finding a responsible fit between precedent and contemporary life
� Militants don't thi
Know the basic arguments of the three Muslim democrats Kelsay talks about (Sachedina, An Na'im, and El Fadl)
� Sachedina-Says that the Qur'an supports freedom of conscience. Shari'a reasoning supports the right of believers to practice their own religions. Also possible for nonbelievers to hear the word of God, reject it, and live according to their conscience
�
How does Martin Luther King differentiate between just and unjust laws?
� MLK says that a "just" law is a moral law and should be followed over domestic law
Because of this, being civilly disobedient is still morally "just" if it's for the right reason
Jim Crow laws were legal, but still "unjust
Know what Martin Luther King thinks of White Moderates
� They prefer order over justice
� MLK doesn't agree...says that they are perpetuating the status quo
� They want a negative peace, or non-violence, but positive peace is justice
What does Timerman think the real lesson of the Holocaust is? How does this relate to silence?
� Timerman thinks that the Holocaust is a reminder to people about what happens when they are silence
o Hatred and silence are repeated if nobody remembers
o The "sin of historic tradition" is that crimes could have been prevented if people talked about t
Know what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is and whether or not it provides a theoretical foundation for why human rights exist.
� Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a declaration adopted by the United Nations after WWII
� It doesn't offer a religious foundation for why human rights exist, and is fairly open ended because of the different religions of the people who drafted
Be familiar with the basic arguments Stackhouse, Novak, George, Kadivar, and Little put forth for human rights.
� Stackhouse-Christianity and Human rights. Says that theory of human rights is theological although there is religious pluralism. Religious pluralism basically says that religions are dynamic and share ideas. Multiple cultures have the same ideas about s
Stackhouse says there are two challenges to grounding human rights. What are they and what does he think about them?
� Religious Pluralism. Globalization...the world is shrinking and everyone has different values. Soul Sovereignty: people have the right to choose their own life. Stackhouse believes that multiple cultures still have the same ideas about things even if th
Know how Novak two ways of claiming rights are related to Natural Law
�Need religion for human rights because it's the natural law?
� universal good/bad
�natural order of life -natural rights that come from God
�Two way of claiming rights is by the supremacy of God and the rule of law. They are not that thses are two separa
What is legal positivism and what does it say about morality and law?
Legal positivism regards law as a system of clearly defined rules; the law is defined by the social rules or practices that identify certain norms as laws. Whether a certain rule is a law, creating legal obligations to comply with it, all depends on its s
How does George define Natural law and what does it have to do with human well-being and fulfillment? Be Familiar with his concept of the person?
� George define Natural law as to secure well-being and fulfillment principal of right action
� What is a human being (person)? Dignity and intrinsic value ( love, friendship, knowledge)
How does George use reason in his argument? Are human being rational beings?
Reason tells us people have dignity and that they are good. Human beings are imperfect rational beings
For Kadivar, what is the difference between Traditional/ Historical Islam and Intellectual Islam?
For Kadivar traditional Islam (Asharites) used scripture and analogy to form their reason and human rights does not exist for them Justice<-- God
� Intellectual Islam (Mutazlities) form their morality and conscience based on reason and scripture to adapt
What riles does reason play in Kadivar's argument of the superiority of Intellectual Islam? How does reason play a role in differentiating between changing and unchanging precept
� Intellectual Islam is superior become they have are times- bound (changed their mindset by incorporating reason to their argument and not using historical references that could not apply to modern times).- more rational and just
� Unchanging precepts� j
What did the Asharites and Mutazalities debate about reason? Which side is Kadivar on?
� There debate is on their source of reasoning should there strictly only use scripture or incorporate their own reason.
� Kadivar is on Mu'tazalities
How does An'Naim see the relationship between the state and shari'a?
Not necessarily mean the exclusion of religion from public life; promoting the need of institutional separation of Islam from State; understanding and explaining the relationship between Islam and politics; and assessing the limitations of Shari'a for Mus
Understand how Mawdudi argues for "the sanctity and security of private life", "the freedom of expression", "the freedom of conscience", and "the freedom of assocation" accordirng to his conception of human rights in Islam?
� The sanctity and security of private life- The Quran has laid down the injunction: Do not spy on one another. Do not enter any houses unless you are sure of their occupant's consent."
� The freedom of expression- gives the right of freedom of thought an
What does David Little think about foundations of human rights?
� Thinks of an overlapping consensus; a thin agreement. Intuition and reasons. Believes dignity is having this moral and intuition. From this we can come to what is good/bad and go from there. Need reasons and justifications behind shared moral revulsion
What does he mean by the "logic of pain" and how does it relate to human rights?
Surgeon has to cut you open to heal you'. Moral a priori; independent of experience. Acts to produce or alleviate pain. Most people seek to avoid pain. Serve greater good. Don't need to offer reasons why pain is bad but need reasons for cause of pain or h
Does Walzer allow politicians to do wrong, to do right? Why?
� The one who doesn't have the dirty hands is the immoral politicians; these are the ones doing it wrong. Visa versa
What does Walzer think about the moral politician?
� Says the moral politician is the one with the dirty hands. Willing to do the immoral thing for the greater good
How does Hanbury think of the ticking time bomb situation?
� Criticizes it. All the people at the top would not pass on information to low level individuals. The prisoners would be well prepared and well trained. NYC example, guy with bomb isn't going to torture someone to set off bomb. It would never happen acco