Ethics & Religion

1. Ethics & Religion PHI 251 – Intro to Ethics

2. Does Morality Depend on Religion? Socrates asks a religiously devout young man named Euthyphro, “Do the gods love holiness because it is holy, or is it holy because the god’s love it?” (Euthyphro Dilemma)

3. Restated… Does God command what is good because it is good, or is something good because God commands it?

4. Divine Command Theory Divine Command Theory (DCT) is the belief that the commands of God are our source for ethics. Ethical claims derive their validity from God commanding them.

5. DCT - Implication Without God, there would be no universally valid morality.

6. Divine Command Theory states… • Morality comes from God. • God determines what is right and wrong; God tells us what to do. • God commands us to do what God defines as right, and commands us to avoid doing what is defined as wrong.

7. Problems with DCT 1. The attribution of “goodness” to God is redundant. 2. Morality becomes arbitrary.

8. The Argument Against DCT 1. Morality originates with God. 2. Moral rightness simply means “willed by God” and moral wrongness means “being against the will of God.” 3. Because morality is based on divine will, not on independently existing reasons for action, no further reasons for action are necessary.

9. Continued… An act is right in virtue of being permitted by the will of God, and an act is wrong in virtue of being against the will of God. Because morality depends on divine will, if God doesn’t exist, everything is permissible.

10. The Counter-Argument The Counter-Argument: 1. Morality does not originate with God 2. Rightness and wrongness are not based simply on God’s will. 3. Essentially, there are reasons for acting one way or the other, which may be known independent of revelation.

11. Another Option Essence of God: not simply commands or abstract objects This option is based on the idea that Euthypho’s dilemma leaves out another possible option. 1. God commands what is good because it is good (abstract objects) 2. What is good is because God commands it (divine command theory) 3. God’s essence is the source of the good and basis for commands.

12. Bertrand Russell 20th Century philosopher and vocal critic of religion Believed that religion made no useful contributions to civilization and has actually been the cause of suffering. “I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery on the human race.

13. David Hume 18th century philosopher To be truly moral, from Hume’s perspective, religion would need to serve as a minor hobby in the routine of life.

14. Ethics & Non-Christian Religious Approaches All systems of thought include belief in something that is necessary (self-sufficient), not contingent (dependent on anything else). • Christianity – the triune God • Islam – Allah • Hinduism – Brahma • Greek polytheism – the gods depend on that which all things come from, Chaos or Okeanos • Buddhism – the ultimate nothingness of Nirvana • Secular Humanism - Human Reason? Abstract Objects?

15. 3 Divisions of Non-Christian Religious Ethics 1. Ethics based on fate (situational) 2. Ethics based on self-realization (existential) 3. Ethics as law (normative)

16. Ethics Based on Fate • Fate – what directs nature and history; whatever happens. (rational) • Chaos – or chance; another name for whatever happens. (irrational)

17. Fate & Empiricism Knowledge of right and wrong in a fatalistic system is generally empirical, based on experience of what happens in the world. When people do right, fate rewards them; when they do wrong, fate punishes them. Such systems are teleological (goal) and observation of life is the teacher (situational). Right behavior brings happiness, wrong behavior brings pain. Therefore, the pursuit of happiness is to pursue what is right. By avoiding unhappiness, wrong is also avoided.

18. Problems with this View 1. Sometimes people who live moral lives are rewarded, but sometimes not. (injustice). There is empirical uncertainty. 2. Our experience is never universal, so our observation is limited. 3. What makes one person happy may infringe on the happiness of another. 4. Facts can be learned through observation but moral obligations cannot be seen and heard. (Is/Ought fallacy)

19. Ethics of Self-Realization Another type of more explicitly religious ethics can be found in the monist religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

20. Ethics of Self-Realization Monism is the view that all things are ultimately one. Since everything is essentially one, monists believe that God, if he exists, is essentially one with the universe, not a being distinct from it. For many monists, God is the name for our true inner self. When we gain insight into ourselves, we discover that we are God and he is us. This view is generally called pantheism.

21. Pantheism The idea that all things are both a manifestation or revelation of God and a part of God at the same time. Pantheism was a common attitude in the early societies of Egypt, India, and Greece — the term derives from the Greek pan meaning "all" and theos meaning "deity."

22. Pantheism • If we are God, then we are responsible to nobody except ourselves. Ethics becomes the discipline by which we can escape from the illusion of plurality and can become conscious of our oneness with God and with the whole world. • Monists are most impressed with the existential principle, the principle that ethics is a matter of the inner life of the self, a means of self-enhancement.

23. Existentialism The belief that one shapes one's basic nature through the direction of life one chooses to live.

24. Problems with this View • If the world is one, then good and evil are one, and right and wrong are one. And without such contrasts, there is no such thing as good and evil, right and wrong. • Buddhism – emphasizes right living, but the goal is to achieve Nirvana which takes away the curse of perpetual reincarnation. • Though Mahayana Buddhism promotes altruistic behavior, the self-sufficient (Nirvana) provides no basis for ethics.

25. Ethics as Law • Judaism, Islam and Christianity are among those that base their ethics on the revelation of a personal absolute. • Traditional Judaism adheres to the Torah (Old Testament) • Islam adheres to the Koran • Christianity adheres to the Old Testament (Torah) and the New Testament • Each of these religions locate morality through obedience to the ethical prescriptives found in their writings. These provide the basis for ethics.

26. Problems with this View • Who decides which of these revelations is authentic and trustworthy, if any? • How do we handle variety in interpretation?