Abstracting Postmodernism, Pluralism, and Ethics
I’m chasing an interesting and abstract thought re: the philosophical relationship between postmodernism, liberal religious pluralism, and ethics. I’ll begin with a fantastic quote by Stanley Hauerwas. The following excerpt is from The Peaceable Kingdom:
“All ethical reflection occurs relative to a particular time and place. Not only do ethical problems change from one time to the next, but the very nature and structure of ethics is determined by the particularities of a community’s history and convictions. From this perspective the notion of ‘ethics’ is misleading, since it seems to suggest that ‘ethics’ is an identifiable discipline that is constant across history. In fact, much of the burden of this book will be to suggest that ethics always requires an adjective of qualifier - such as, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Existentialist, Pragmatic, Utilitarian, Humanist, Medieval, Modern - in order to denote the social and historical character of ethics as a discipline. This is not to suggest that ethics does not address an identifiable set of relatively constant questions - the nature of good or right, freedom and the nature of human behavior, the place and status of rules and virtues - but any response to these questions necessarily draws on the particular convictions of historic communities to whom such questions may have significantly different meanings.” Read More »
Human Nature Theory and Ethical Orientations
We were presented with a worksheet in a class on Ministerial Ethics (PL311) detailing the Four Theories of Human Nature as lifted from Augsburger’s Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures. We were instructed to theologically identify with one of the four theories. We were also presented with a variety of ethical orientations, such as: Deontological (rules and duty); Teleological: (goals and outcomes); Situational (acts and decisions that fit the situation); Sense (conscience and spirit); Virtue (the formation of character in community); liberation (fulfillment of life and freedom from oppression); and Care (responsible care to self and other). The goal was to associate an ethical orientation with one’s choice of nature theory. The combinations classmates announced in class were interesting, to say the least. I’ll make this point in a bit, but first I’ll list the Four Theories of Human Nature. Read More »
Quick Thoughts on Descartes’ First Meditation
Descartes’ First Meditation is a philosophical inquiry into epistemology, from a very skeptical position.
Descartes is obviously dedicated to self-reflection as a means leading toward authentic self-understanding as concerns his own rational or irrational awareness. He writes: Read More »
Self-enrichment in a World of Relative Values?
I randomly pulled an ethics book from its shelf this morning, after my morning devotions. I flipped to a very provocative page re: the issue of postmodernism, and its relationship and/or affect upon ethics, which has been a strong and obvious theme in discussions concerning Christianity and Christian ethics of late, at least here on this weblog. The content I read deserves to be quoted in full. It is simple, rich and, as I stated earlier, provocative: Read More »
Alfred North Whitehead: Father of Process Philosophy
The name Alfred North Whitehead is important to Process thought and philosophy. Perhaps important is too light a word, in this case. Whitehead is more than important to the philosophy; he is an essential aspect of it. It is upon Whitehead’s foundational philosophy that Process Theology is built. Read More »
John Rawls: Goodness as Rationality?
What does John Rawls - philosopher, espouser and all around guru of Political Liberalism - mean by “goodness as rationality?”
“Goodness as rationality,” is the name given to a concept which considers human beings as capable of authentically defining what “good” and “the good life” is for themselves (a staple of liberalism). This concept is the basis of Rawls’ societal structure (i.e., his thin and full theories of the good are launched from a platform in which people decide the structure and path of society by means of their good and capable rationale). Read More »
John Stuart Mill: On Kant and Utility
John Stuart Mill sites the following statement from Kant as evidence of Kant’s philosophical reliance upon a similar teleological or utilitarian ethic (Mill says that even Kant had to appeal to the principle of utility): “So act that the rule on which thou actest would admit of being adopted as a law by all rational beings.” Kant’s statment does read as a universal first principle of morality’s origin and basis. I think it a mistake, however, to attribute to Kant the same ethical utility as advanced by Mill. Kant seems satisfied with universal ethical principle. Read More »
Visual Philosophy: Pascal’s Wager
The French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal advanced a “wager” that demonstrated his thoughts on the rationality of believing in God.
The Birthmark: Can We Lose Our Humanity?
A classical short story titled The Birthmark (Nathaniel Hawthorne) raises a few very important questions concerning the relationship between religion, theology, ethics, and science. Read More »
Philosophy Notes: Plato’s Republic (On Justice)
Socrates (Plato), in The Republic, metaphorically defines justice as “harmony.” The reader following this metaphorical caricature consequently discovers justice to be quintessentially observable and definable on the macro and micro scales, i.e., in society and the individual. Plato, in his “Republic,” paints a dialectic picture of an ideal society (macro justice) wherein its members are only to perform functions at which they are proven astute. Censorship of the arts and restricted academics are social norms enforced by law. Children are produced for the sole purpose of sustaining the populace (children are also separated from their biological parents). Read More »