John Arthur: Religion, Morality, and Conscience


 

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

 

  1. According to Arthur, how are morality and religion different?

Morality is the tendency people evaluate or criticize the behavior of others, or to feel remorse about their own behavior. It involves our attitudes toward various forms of behavior (lying and killing, for example), typically expressed using the notion of rules, rights, and obligations.

Religion involves prayer, worship, beliefs about the supernatural, institutional forms, and authoritative texts.

 

  1. Why isn’t religion necessary for moral motivation?

Moral motivations can stand without the religion because the religious motives are far from the only ones people have. In order to make a decision to do the right thing is made for a variety of reasons. Also, we were raised to be a decent person, and that’s what we are. Behaving fairly and treating others well is more important than whatever we might gain in our bad deeds.

 

  1. Why isn’t religion necessary as a source of moral knowledge?

Religion is not necessarily a source of moral knowledge because we need to know about religion and revelation in order for religion to provide moral guidance. Also, the confusion of to whom of those God of different religion that exist to follow or to believe on to have moral guidance is still another factor for not necessarily considering religion as a moral knowledge.

 

  1. What is the divine command theory? Why does Arthur reject this theory?

According to Mortimer, the divine command theory means that God has the same sort of relation to moral law as the legislature has to statutes it enacts: without God’s commands there would be no moral rules, just as without a legislature there would be no statutes. Also that only by assuming God sits at the foundation of morality can we explain the objective difference between right and wrong.

Arthur says “I think, in fact, theists should reject the divine command theory. One reason is what it implies. To adopt the divine command theory therefore commits its advocate to the seemingly absurd position that even the greatest atrocities might be not only acceptable but morally required if God were to command them.

 

  1. According to Arthur, how are morality and religion connected?

Morality and religion is connected through the historical influence of religions have had on the development of morality as well as on politics and law.

 

  1. Dewey says that morality is social. What does this mean, according to Arthur?

Dewey, according to Arthur, says Morality is inherently social, in a variety of ways. It depends on socially learned language, is learned from interactions with others, and governs our interactions with others in society. But it also demands, as Dewey put it, that we know “with” others, envisioning for ourselves what their points of view would require along with our own. Conscience demands we occupy the positions of others.

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Has Arthur refuted the divine command theory? If not, how can it be defined?

Arthur refuted the divine command theory in the sense that he rejects this believe and encourage other people to not believe on it. He tries to state the different weaknesses of the divine command theory rather than the advantage of it. He focus on the side of the negative aspect of the divine command theory.

 

  1. If morality is social, as Dewey says, then how can we have any obligation to nonhuman animals? (Arthur mentions this problem and some possible solution to it in footnote 6.)

To have any obligation to nonhuman animals, prevent torturing animals; rest on sympathy and compassion while human relations are more likely resting on morality’s inherently social nature and on the dictates of conscience viewed as an assembly of others.

 

  1. What does Dewey mean by moral education? Does a college ethic class count as moral education?

Moral education is both actual and imagined in which morality cannot exist without the broader, social perspective introduced by others, and this social nature ties it. Private moral reflection taking place independently of the social world would be no moral reflection at all; and moral education is not only possible, but essential.

 

TITLE: Contemporary Moral Problems: Religion, Morality, and Conscience (Chapter 2)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306

QUOTATION: “Religion is necessary so that people will DO right.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to learn the difference between morality and religion.

-          I want to distinguish the reason why morality and religion is in the notion that religion is morality.

-          I want to know the divine command theory.

 REVIEW:

Religion and Morality really differs. According to this section, written by John Arthur, religion is not always connected to morality. As Arthur defines morality is the tendency people evaluate or criticize the behavior of others, or to feel remorse about their own behavior. It involves our attitudes toward various forms of behavior (lying and killing, for example), typically expressed using the notion of rules, rights, and obligations. However, religion involves prayer, worship, beliefs about the supernatural, institutional forms, and authoritative texts.

Another good topic discussed in this section is the divine command theory. According to Mortimer, the divine command theory means that God has the same sort of relation to moral law as the legislature has to statutes it enacts: without God’s commands there would be no moral rules, just as without a legislature there would be no statutes. Also that only by assuming God sits at the foundation of morality can we explain the objective difference between right and wrong.

Dewey, according to Arthur, says Morality is inherently social, in a variety of ways. It depends on socially learned language, is learned from interactions with others, and governs our interactions with others in society. But it also demands, as Dewey put it, that we know “with” others, envisioning for ourselves what their points of view would require along with our own. Conscience demands we occupy the positions of others.

This section is entirely about religion, morality and conscience. I just realize that moral education is not only possible but essential. Now I know why this class is essential to our curriculum not only to be oriented to the different issues in the society but also to determine the right and wrong to scenarios in the society.

 

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED:

-          Religion and morality have differences but still similarities still exist.

-          Morality is social.

-          Divine command theory is essential to understand especially if you do not have any religion to believe in.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

  1. Who is John Arthur?
  2. What are the similarities of religion and morality?
  3. What are the differences of religion and morality?
  4. What is the role played by religion in morality?
  5. What is morality?