Moral Argument
- Created by: Former Member
- Created on: 17-02-14 16:19
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- Moral Argument
- Thomas Aquinas- humans have the capacity for both good and bad, so the source of goodness is not in the world
- Something perfectly good must exist for us to have degrees of goodness
- God exists- the most perfect being and source of all goodness
- Something perfectly good must exist for us to have degrees of goodness
- John Henry Newman- humans feel shame, responsibility- we must feel this towards God
- Kant- we all seek happiness and ought to be moral- do our duty- as we have innate moral awareness
- The universe is fair- our reward, the summum bonum, must be achievable. If sin profits more, it would be rational; but it makes no sense to say 'I ought to give to charity, but have no reason to'
- However, the summum bonum is not common or achievable in this life, and some good people act morally even though they suffer great pain
- There must be an afterlife where the summum bonum is achievable, and a God to guarantee the universe is fair
- However, the summum bonum is not common or achievable in this life, and some good people act morally even though they suffer great pain
- The universe is fair- our reward, the summum bonum, must be achievable. If sin profits more, it would be rational; but it makes no sense to say 'I ought to give to charity, but have no reason to'
- Camus- if there is a plague, we can:
- Be anti-humanitarian and not fight it, alongside a priest
- Fight alongside a doctor against the God who sent it
- If humanitarianism is right, theism is wrong
- Be anti-humanitarian and not fight it, alongside a priest
- If humanitarianism is right, theism is wrong
- Sorley- people are conscious of absolute moral law, even if they break it.
- No finite mind grasps the entire representation, but ideas exist only in the mind
- There must be a supreme infinite mind in which absolute moral law exists
- No finite mind grasps the entire representation, but ideas exist only in the mind
- Bertrand Russell morality either comes from God or not.
- It does- good is arbitrary, simply what God says it is
- God is not worthy of worship
- It doesn't- it is independent and God is subjective to it
- God is not worthy of worship
- It does- good is arbitrary, simply what God says it is
- C.S. Lewis- moral law:
- Can't be mere convention (not everything, e.g. maths, is social convention)
- Can't be mere imagination (as it can't be removed, and is impressed on us from outside)
- Must exist in a mind and can't be a law of nature (as it is an 'ought', not an 'is'
- Can't be herd instinct (otherwise the strongest would always win, we would always act from instinct and some instincts would always be right)
- Must exist (or disagreements, promises and excuses wouldn't)
- Must originate from an absolute good mind!
- Freud- childhood experiences leaves a superego with parental influences, including traditions and demands of their times. Conscience is little more than this (undermines the connection between God and morality)
- Thomas Aquinas- humans have the capacity for both good and bad, so the source of goodness is not in the world
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