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Morality and moral decisions
Morality and moral decisions
Morality and moral decisions
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The Surge of Morality
Morality in its actuality boils down to different meaning from perspectives that are not necessarily good or bad. The application of morality determines how it can be explained. This shows how an outward appearance defines morality. The concept of morality identifies what is to be done and why it is done in certain ways. However, the existence of conscience gives rise to the definition of a moral act. It is only expected that a moral act answers to the circumstances surrounding a good or a bad intention. Some circumstances can be justified if the main intent is morally good without causing any harm, but when the primary intention is to cause harm, it becomes morally bad. However, there is always a possibility for struggles as a result of conscience using input, threshold and output. Input is brought about by the main aim of carrying out an action whereas threshold are contributing factors to carrying out such action and the output focuses on the final result and its influence from concrete judgments as evidenced by good or bad. Selected texts like “The Descent of Man” by Charles Darwin plays an important role to the nature of human morality using comparisons from animals and humans. Darwin defines the evolution of man by using animals to explain most of his teachings and also, he defines a moral being as the capability to compare past and future actions and the ability to either approve or disapprove. The text on Genesis initiates human morality on a much simpler ground using the first human temptation by the serpent pertaining to a conventional order. Therefore, both texts depicts morality but in similar contexts.
Darwin’s idea of morality proposed that qualities of a moral act are embodied in an individua...
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... is from evolving morality and struggling for survival as a level of functionality initiates a higher trait that enables competition amongst its kind or race. Morality goes berserk when association is limited because it hinders social instincts which explains morality better. The goal of a moral act lies within an individual. It defines the purpose of different actions carried out. Therefore, it is right to say that if an intention is good or evil, then it ought to be morally justified. However, the end does not justify the means, in other words a wrong/evil intention does not result in a good moral act. In conclusion, the understanding of morality builds a core perspective to better objectives and defined goals.
Work Cited
Sciglitano, Ki and Peter Savastano. Christianity and Culture in Dialogue.(Dubuque, IA: Kendall
Hunt Publishing, 2012). Print.
The three essays that make up On The Genealogy of Morals each deal with a certain stage of cultural development of morality. In order to establish chronology, the second section should precede the first, as noted by Dennett (Darwin's Dangerous Idea, 1995) . Essay I deals with the origins of "good" and "bad" as pertaining to the master and slave moralities. Essay II delves into the origin of guilt and bad conscience, while Essay III offers a discussion of the "ascetic ideal." I will concern myself only with the second phase of morality (Essay I), as it encompasses important aspects of the other two, but I will later give a brief discussion of Essays II and III in light of the explanation of the very origin of morality that Nietzsche is out to disprove.
Morality is not something that should be easy to comprehend, and philosophers such as Mackie and McDowell are taking the wrong approach when trying to describe morality in natural terms. People need to understand that morality is something supernatural that we don’t have the capacity to comprehend. However, this does not mean that all moral judgments are false. There is a right choice in every scenario, however the variety of scenarios in this world is so grand that one cannot judge it by one code of
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46). Throughout the work, Nietzsche uses decidedly negative terms to describe “bad conscience,” calling it ugly (59), a sickness (60), or an illness (56); leading some to assume that he views “bad conscience” as a bad thing. However, Nietzsche hints at a different view when calling bad conscience a “sickness rather like pregnancy” (60). This analogy equates the pain and suffering of a pregnant woman to the suffering of man when his instincts are repressed. Therefore, just as the pain of pregnancy gives birth to something joyful, Nietzsche’s analogy implies that the negative state of bad conscience may also “give birth” to something positive. Nietzsche hopes for the birth of the “sovereign individual” – a man who is autonomous, not indebted to the morality of custom, and who has regained his free will. An examination of Nietzsche’s theory on the evolution of man’s bad conscience will reveal: even though bad conscience has caused man to turn against himself and has resulted in the stagnation of his will, Ni...
The first interpretation of the hypothesis that morality has evolved is that some components of our moral sense evolved. This hypothesis is the least controversial of the three interpretations. This is because it is the only one that has any real sort of evidence that I can see. That evidence comes in the form of phylogenetic evidence. Scientists have been able to determine the primates exhibit some of the same emotions that humans have. Dr. Machery specifically reference a setting where one primate had more desirable food than the other and envy or jealously was exhibited by the primate with the less desirable food. This evidence means that emotions were passed down from a common ancestor before humans evolved.
One’s morals set in place the actions they see as proper and improper in their current society. Individuals in the same socioeconomic settings tend to overlap and correspond to each other. Other times morals are nonexistent or different due to one’s upbringing and culture, this means that ‘appropriate’ decisions as seen by some people may be seen as ‘inappropriate’ to others. Evil in terms of morals can be defined as someone 's morals being so extreme or nonexistent when compared to those of modern society 's views that they can not be logically comprehended.
“The sanctity of the oath” (Keillor 102), the controversial hot topic of this year. This is a subject that has sparked great debates not only to those in Congress, but among the American people as well. Some hold the oath as a promise of civility and humanity. On the other hand, others view the morality the oath is supposed to stand for as unreachable and unattainable. In my opinion Garrison Keillor sums it up in his essay, “The Republicans Were Right, But.” I feel this is a good essay based upon the author’s argument of morality, his use of symbolism, and the entire structure of the essay.
One of the most persistently asked and perpetually unanswered questions in psychology is the question of morality. What is it, how does it develop, and where does it come from? A basic definition of morality is “beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior” (Merriam-Webster). Based on the definition, the question then becomes even more complicated; How do people decide what is right and what is wrong? Research has examined this from many different angles, and two distinct schools of thought have emerged. One centers on the Lockian idea of children as blank slates who must be taught the difference between right and wrong and what it means to be moral, while the other espouses a more Chomskian perspective of a preset system of basic rules and guidelines that needs only to be activated. So what does this mean for humans and humanity? Are we born tabula rasa or are we born with an innate sense of good and evil? For those researching this topic, the question then becomes how to most effectively theorize, experiment and interpret human morality.
Morality is defined as “neither mysterious nor irrational but furnishes the necessary guidelines for how we can promote human welfare and prevent suffering” (Fisher 134). Moral relativism suggests that when it comes to questions about morality, there is no absolute right and wrong. Relativists argue that there can be situations in which certain behavior that would generally be considered “wrong” can also be considered “right”. The most prominent argument for moral relativism was posed by a foremost American anthropologist, Ruth Benedict, who claimed that absolute morality does not exist because cultures and individuals disagree on moral issues and because of these differences, morality cannot be objective (Benedict). For example, in the United
The second reason to act morally is because there is religion. Sometimes moral codes are obtained by theologians who clarify holy books, like the Bible in Christianity, the Torah in Judaism, and the Qur 'an in Islam. Their conclusions are often accepted as absolute by their believers. Those who believe in God view him as the supreme law giver; a God to whom we owe obedience and allegiance. In other words, they think that being a good person is one who obey god by following his commandments. Religion helps people to judge whether a certain act is good or bad, which can be considered as the definition of morality. Most religions promote the same values which are: fairness, loyalty, honesty, trust, etc.... Similarly, McGinn lists the same qualities
Would you describe a dog as capable of being evil? Or a cat? Or a chimpanzee? Most likely you could not. We humans belong to the taxonomic kingdom of Animalia and are therefore animals. Our species has evolved from animals that looked and acted more like the modern chimpanzee than we do. So at what point did we go from being creatures of instinct do developing the concept of morality? A great deal of literature has been written about morality, examples of which can be located in fiction and non-fiction as well as in scientific, theological and philosophical fields. Specific examples include the bible, as well as the writings of Plato (c. 424-348 BCE), Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) and John Steinbeck (1902-1968). Morality is a trait that is developed as a result of practical material situations and experience as exemplified in The Grapes of Wrath, challenged by St. Matthew, but reinforced in the writings of Plato; we humans are born morally neutral.
To begin, “On Morality'; is an essay of a woman who travels to Death Valley on an assignment arranged by The American Scholar. “I have been trying to think, because The American Scholar asked me to, in some abstract way about ‘morality,’ a word I distrust more every day….'; Her task is to generate a piece of work on morality, with which she succeeds notably. She is placed in an area where morality and stories run rampant. Several reports are about; each carried by a beer toting chitchat. More importantly, the region that she is in gains her mind; it allows her to see issues of morality as a certain mindset. The idea she provides says, as human beings, we cannot distinguish “what is ‘good’ and what is ‘evil’';. Morality has been so distorted by television and press that the definition within the human conscience is lost. This being the case, the only way to distinguish between good or bad is: all actions are sound as long as they do not hurt another person or persons. This is similar to a widely known essay called “Utilitarianism'; [Morality and the Good Life] by J.S. Mills with which he quotes “… actions are right in the proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.';
Whether put simply or scrutinized, morality cannot be defined simply by looking at it from one or two perspectives. One must acknowledge the fact that there are several different factors that affect judgment between “right” and “wrong”. Only after taking into account everything that could possibly change the definition of righteousness can one begin to define morality. Harriet Baber, a professor at San Diego State University, defines morality as “the system through which we determine right and wrong conduct”. Baber refers to morality as a process or method when she calls it a “system”. In saying “we” she then means to say that this concept does not only apply to her but also to everyone else. Through morality, according to her, one can look at an action, idea, or situation and determine its righteousness and its consequences.
Some people believe what is morally right is liked by people because it is morally right, and others believe morality is determined by what society likes. In order to say which option is correct, it is necessary to distinguish them from each other. The first possibility suggests that moral values are universal and, that actions are unarguably either righteous or unrighteous. Additionally, it implies that humans don 't choose what is moral or immoral. Accordingly, morality is a predetermined law that humans follow simply because it is innately right. On the other hand, the second possibility suggests that people decide what is morally right or wrong. This means morality only exists within the constrains of society and the mind. In other words, the only reason something is right or wrong is because a person or group thinks it is
Understanding this concept could be difficult if one does not realize what it means to have good morals. Morality is the distinction of knowing between right and wrong, good and bad. This judgment happens in everyday activities and can be as small as a little white lie or as big as killing someone. Studies show different ways of one’s morality forming. One way, researchers believe, is from one’s religion and what one believes in. If one is a Christian then they would learn from what God says is right or wrong in The Bible. If one is Islamic, one would believe what Allah says is right and wrong and what is in The Qur’an. One might also learn what is right from wrong from...
A. Morality comes from God. Therefore, moral behavior is that behavior that conforms to the will of God. Immoral behavior defies the will of God. The will of God is correctly interpreted by the Church. Rating: 6. I was feeling this one, until the last sentence. There are so many denominations, and the reason is that they disagree with one another. Many religions interpret what the will of God is differently, not to mention incorrectly. I do believe that a big part of morality comes from God.