The two topics that really intrigue me are: Why should we be moral? And The Problem with Evil. Unfortunately I haven't received my copy of either of the books yet (I pre-ordered them from the bookstore) so I'm not able to use any examples from the book. I will however make any additions I have in a seperate blog when I finally do so that I can better support my answer.
Why should we be moral?
Morals are described by wikipedia as a system of values and principles. "They are evaluated through logic, experience and proper judgment, whether this originates from culture, philosophy, religion, society or individual conscience. In normative and universal sense morality refers to an ideal code of conduct (wikipedia)." There are many different opinions as to how to actually judge what is moral and what is not. Not everyone is moral, because to be moral is a choice. Most of the time I find myself doing something considered "moral" because to me it seems to be the right thing to do. No one is perfect though, and sometimes I am even guilty of doing things some would consider immoral; that would just be based off of you're conception of what being moral actually means. Morals mean different things to different people. Something I consider moral might not be ethical to you. I would say that my parents have instilled certain morals in me over the course of my life and some I have discovered on my own. I'm really interested in the topic because there are obviously so many different ideas/opinions as to what it means to be moral, let alone why we should be moral. It's a subject that is open to interpretation and I think it would make for an interesting final paper.
I thought there were some very interesting thoughts at the following links:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/saburns/pg0412.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080505062033AA7QidK"
The Problem with Evil
"The problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of God, a force for infinite good(Wikipedia)." I’m not sure honestly what to expect from this topic. I did a little glancing around and read quite a few blogs concerning what people had to offer. Overwhelmingly knowing the difference between moral and natural evil was what was stressed. According to Rick Rood, moral evil is the stuff we have control over (Murder, Stealing, Lying, etc…), where as natural evil are the events we can’t prevent like natural disasters (Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Floods). I think that evil plays an important role on society and I don't think there is any convievable way of the world being free of evil. Although this is not likely to be my choice for my final topic, I am curious to to learn more about the chapter.
Rick Rood wrote one of the articles I read online. If you’re interested, it can be found here www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/evil.html
and of course http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
Again, the book would have helped, but I will make any additions in a seperate blog once I actually get my hands on them.
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4 comments:
Jason,
I applaud you for not letting the book situation slow you down. If you can write this insightfully without a book, I can't wait to see what you do with these posts once you do have the book. Excellent work, keep it up.
Sincerely, Karla
Karla,
I really appreciate the comment. Sadly, I reserved the books on Thursday of last week, but have yet to recieve a call. Maybe I should have taken the advice and ordered them online. Hopefully the bookstore will have some available before our next class. Thanks again.
Jason
Jason,
You say that ethics means different things to different people. Do you believe there are certain moral codes or principles that are actually universal? Do you think an event like the holocaust, for example, could ever be OK morally? You don't have to answer that here...just something to think about. The question about whether morality is relative or objective is a huge one in philosophy, as you will see.
I commend you for the extra links, too, by the way.
:) Karla
Karla,
That's a really good question. I do believe that there are underlying principles that people generally follow, however, I think they're often skued by the confines of things such as religion and territories. On a universal scale, I would say that the masses definitely would not find an event like the Holocaust to ever be morally ok. I do believe however, that there was a sect of people that did believe it was.
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