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1. morality(Noun)
Recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right
conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.
1. Morality
Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are "good" and those that are "bad". The
philosophy of morality is ethics. A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code.
Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness." Immorality is the active opposition to morality, while
amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any set of moral standards or principles. An
example of a moral code is the Golden Rule which states that, "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."
Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try
to understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context.
Are there distinctively religious (e.g., Christian) positions on major moral issues like abortion?
Are these positions different from what one would come to on basis of reason alone?
Some reasons to worry about finding specific moral guidance in the Scriptures
o Our problems not the same as those faced by the Jews and early Christian writers of the Bible
o The general helpful moral guidance it gives (love one's neighbor) not likely to give us definitive answers to issues of today: Rights
of workers, extinction of species, funding of medical research
o Many Scriptures and church traditions are ambiguous and authorities disagree on how to interpret them
E.g., the view that fetuses are human from the very beginning is not clear in the Scriptures or church tradition
Rachels thinks that often when people think they are deriving their moral views from their religious commitments, what is really going on
is they make up their minds about moral issues first and then interpret the Scriptures and church tradition in a way to support those
conclusions
This can involve the arrogant position that God must share one's moral views
ETHICAL EGOISM
Ethical egoism is the view that people ought to pursue their own self-interest, and no one has any obligation to promote anyone else’s interests. It is
thus a normative or prescriptive theory: it is concerned with how people ought to behave. In this respect, ethical egoism is quite different
from psychological egoism, the theory that all our actions are ultimately self-interested. Psychological egoism is a purely descriptive theory that
purports to describe a basic fact about human nature