What makes a moral human being? Philosophers and theorists have spent centuries struggling to find an answer. Morality is not easy to grasp but, I believe that we define our own individual meaning of what makes us moral, from the external forces that we encounter, our relationships, our actions and how we deal with the consequences of those actions throughout our life. To me a moral person is an “authentic being”, one who can positively influence our society through the power of choice. A moral person is self-less and responsible for their actions whether the consequences are for the better or for worse. We are all unique beings with our own thoughts on what makes us moral.
Human begins are created in God’s image. The way I see us being created in God’s image, is not that we would physically resemble him but, we would have mental, moral, and a social likeness to him. We were given an amazing intellectual ability, that surpasses almost every animal on this planet. This means that we are able to hear, understand, and process God communication with us. We have the ability to obey or disobey God’s plan. I believe that we are on this earth as intelligent beings that are here to carry out God’s work. We are like the shepherds of the earth, guiding each other and progressing further. Our intelligence allows us to build and shape, and carry out his plan. Not only were we created in mental likeness, but also his moral likeness. We have be given God’s moral likeness in many ways. We have the ability to know God, worship, and pray to him. I believe that we are born with his good conscience and his spirit. Lastly, we are created in his social likeness. We were given the ability to communicate and lead eachother in life. Human fellowship allo...
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...ake my own choices, and live with the consequences. I believe being or authentic self is our moral obligation as a human being and by doing that we become a moral human being. On the other hand supporters of hard determinism, would have a much different approach. According to Rosenstand ,hard determinism it a theory that says everything can be predicted and understood with one-hundred percent accuracy, because everything is an effect a previous cause. Hard determinism says that we are incompatible with with free will, and that free will doesn’t exist. I don’t believe this because free will is only nature as humans. Our life is determined by the choices that we make, and the possibilities those choices open up. Hard determinism is a good example of what Sartre calls “bad faith”. Hard determinism would not be a good moral factor because it rejects ethics.
Though individuals live by and react similarly to various situations, not all people have the same morals. I can relate to instances where I have supported a belief, regardless of the criticisms that arise, all because my choice is based upon personal morals. The same can be said regarding Debra J. Dickerson as she expresses in her novel, An American Story. In Carol Gilligan’s “Concepts of Self and Morality,” she states, “The moral person is one who helps others; goodness in service, meeting one’s obligations and responsibilities to others, if possible without sacrificing oneself” (170). After considering this statement, I strongly feel that Gilligan’s proposal lacks the depth to accurately characterize the moral person, but I am able to accept the argument raised by Joan Didion. Her essay entitled, “On Morality,” clearly provides a more compelling and acceptable statement in describing the moral person by saying, “I followed my own conscience, I did what I thought was right” (181). Joan Didion’s proposal is precise and acceptable. It is obvious that as long as people follow what they believe is the right thing to do, and approach the situation maturely, their actions can be considered examples of morality, and they can then be considered moral human beings.
Before I look at each of the specific aspects though, the question arises: “How can one be moral?” By definition, to be moral is to be concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong. Expanding on this is the principle of ethics. This is simply a system of moral principles.
Hard determinists further argue that if there is no such thing as free will, then there can be no such thing as moral responsibility, for if a man or woman cannot choose to do other than what they have done, there is no way any responsibility can fall on them for their thoughts or actions. Their actions were simply caused by something else, which was caused by something else, and so on.
The last few weeks of class we covered several different kinds of determinism from the various handouts we received. The hard determinist believe that everything happens in a causal fashion, that there is no free will and everything is predetermined. “We remember statements about human beings being pawns of their environment, victims of conditions beyond their control, the result of causal influences stemming from parents, etc.”1 These hard determinist think that the universe works like a clock. Everything has a causal effect onto the other and there is no free will or choice, that all the tiny variables added up to you making that choice. Hospers dives into the psychology and says that every choice you make is a predetermined factor
Humans can think, feel, and reason which differentiate them from the rest of God’s creation. The ability to reason enables human beings to think and reflect on their own nature and the nature of God. The bible teaches us that God created man in his image and likeness. In the beginning of creation human nature was perfect because we were created by God. Genesis 1:31 describes Human beings were created very good by a loving God”. God created humans to operate their lives according to wisdom under God’s kingly reign (Diffey, 2014). God’s purpose in creating mankind was to work and serve (Genesis 2:15), and have dominion over earth (Genesis 1:26-28) The fall of Adam and Eve separated humanity from God and wisdom. This act plunged all of humanity into a history characterized by idolatry (Diffey, 2014), and is the root cause of all human
Hard determinism is a problem for moral judgment because hard determinism says that a person is not held responsible for their actions and therefore does not allow free will. Our moral judgement is our decision between right and wrong but with hard determinism you aren’t held responsible for your wrong actions. This is causing a problem for moral judgement because we aren’t responsible for our wrong actions because our decisions cannot cause our action. Also is saying that “human freedom and determinism is not compatible” to one another. The textbook says that hard determinists believe that “we can only barely be said to be ‘acting’ at
I never really grasped a straight forward definition of morality given by the speaker. Morality to me is a person’s code of conduct that they live their life by. It is a person’s beliefs that make them feel if something is right or wrong.
We were designed for one purpose, to honor and love our creator (Matthew 6:24). When we look at ourselves, and others we find that we each have individual humanistic characteristics. Each with different thoughts of how we perceive God and what we think he wants from us. By using our talents and gifts wisely and just we are giving praise back to our creator (1 Timothy 6:17).
Soft determinism attempts to make the disagreeing data of determinism and freedom compatible. The theory of soft determinism rests on three fundamental claims: (1) the deterministic concept that human behaviour is causally determined; (2) that there is freedom in voluntary behaviour, so long as there is no physical impediment or constraint upon the action; and (3) that the cause of the voluntary behaviour (which is possible in the absence of impediments or constraints) is an internal state of the agent of the action. According to soft determinism, therefore, we are responsible for our actions on o...
“There is a continuum between free and unfree, with many or most acts lying somewhere in between.” (Abel, 322) This statement is a good summation of how Nancy Holmstrom’s view of free will allows for degrees of freedom depending on the agent’s control over the situation. Holmstrom’s main purpose in her Firming Up Soft Determinism essay was to show that people can have control over the source of their actions, meaning that people can have control over their desires and beliefs, and because of this they have free will. She also tried to show that her view of soft determinism was compatible with free will and moral responsibility. While Holmstrom’s theory about the self’s being in control, willingness to participate, and awareness of an act causes the act to be free, has some merit, her choice to incorporate soft determinism ultimately proved to invalidate her theory.
What does it mean to be human? Is it the millions of cells that you’re composed of? Or is it something more? In George Orwell’s book 1984, through the use of his protagonist, Orwell looks at what it really means to be human. In a world that is built on destruction and manipulation, Orwell takes a look at how a totalitarian government affects humankind and a person’s ability to stay “human”.
In order to define personhood, one must first define a human. A Human can be thought about in two different senses, a moral human sense and a genetic human sense. In a moral sense, humans can be thought of as a person who is a member of the moral community. In a genetic sense, humans are merely any physical being categorized as a being in the human species. From this one can conclude that a person is a human in the moral sense. Furthermore, characteristics of a person must be defined in order to differentiate moral beings from genetic humans.
This revelation simultaneously defines and commissions mankind. By God creating mankind in his own image implies a responsibility to represent God as he is. Wayne Grudem writes, “The Hebrew words for ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ simply informed the original readers that man was like God, and would in many ways represent God…When scripture reports that God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’ (Gen. 1:26), it simply would have meant to the original readers, ‘Let us make man to be like us and to represent us.” Adam, acting as every-man, is commission to be a representative priest ; likewise every man is now accountable for how he or she accomplishes this task. Genesis continues to reveal what exactly this responsibility entails. Mankind represents the
The question of what is a human being is extremely complex, but we are given the unique ability to be able to think about it. I believe that “God created mankind in His own image” and because of that, He created them perfect (Genesis 1:1, NIV). God placed man on the Earth to rule over the land and to spread the Word of God to the far corners of the world. Religions are almost all based around theories about what happens after someone dies. I believe that when someone dies, they are faced with the judgment of Christ who then determines if that p...
Moral ethics is the belief that all human beings are born to know right from wrong. We come into this world as good people, but the temptations and challenges in life influence our mind set to as it will. Every person on Earth chooses if they’re to follow through with their life of good or go down the path of bad. “A person’s moral ethics” (unknown.)