In other words, the good effect must be produced directly by the action, not by the bad effect. Otherwise the agent would be using a bad means to a good end, which is never allowed. (4) The good effect must be sufficiently desirable to compensate for the allowing of the bad effect. In forming this decision many factors must be weighed and compared, with care and prudence proportionate to the importance of the case. Thus, an effect that benefits or harms society generally has more … DOUBLE EFFECT, PRINCIPLE OF The Principle of Double Effect is a rule of conduct frequently used in moral theology to determine when a person may lawfully perform an action from which two effects will follow, one bad and the other good.
He talks about our consciences, both authoritarian and humanistic. He even goes into detail about why it’s better to Garra 2 obey out of love then out of fear. Erich also states that “For centuries, obedience was insisted as a virtue, and disobedience was insisted as a vice.”(Fromm 683). This statement implies that obeying was the right thing to do, and disobeying was the wrong thing to do. He even uses religion and terms that deal with religion throughout his article for more evidence.
Critically assess the claim that conscience is the voice of reason (35) There are a number of views on whether conscience is the voice of reason and where this voice comes from; is it from God, do we acquire it or is it innate. Aquinas thought conscience was the natural ability of people to understand the difference between right and wrong. He believed that all people aim for what is good and try to avoid the bad (synderesis rule). Aquinas argued that although people should always follow their conscience he understood that people make wrong choices. He defined conscience in this way as “the mind of man making moral judgements” and defined it as having two parts- synderesis and conscientia (decision leading to a particular action).
He is half correct in his statement as a theist does not believe in the proofs individually, but finds enough evidence in them to form the belief that God does exist; He is the creator of the universe, and He is morally perfect. McCloskey touches on faith in his article. It is defined by Tillich: as the state of being ultimately concerned as claiming truth for concern, and is involving commitment, courage, and the taking of risk. Theists have faith in God, and treat Him as the most important person in their lives. To have faith in someone on past knowledge, according to McCloskey, is reasonable however; it is unreasonable to have faith in God as we have no past knowledge of God.
Conscience is interpreted as something inside of us that helps us decipher right from wrong. There have been many views presented towards conscious in this debate, from a psychological and philosophical, theological and ethical point of view; but when speaking of the conscience, it usually comes down to whether it is the voice of God, or is learned throughout our existence. Within this essay I will evaluate and use the ideas from different philosophers and psychologists, etc, to come to a supported and logical conclusion. Famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud criticised the view of conscience being the voice of God, and argued that it was learned. He believed that conscience derives from the guilt we feel when we go against our conscience, so it is a construct of the mind, not the voice of God.
When we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally or in a utilitarianism manner. Typically in any deontological system, our duties, rules, and obligations are determined by God. Being moral is thus a matter of obeying God. Cline, Austin, 2011, Deontology and Ethics: What is Deontology, Deontological Ethics? http://atheism.about.com/od/ethicalsystems/a/Deontological.htm The ideas in certain situations like “let the ends justify the means,” is commonly accepted.
17/09/14 - homework Explain the view that the conscience is the voice of God. In order to fully explain the view that the conscience is the voice of God one must first define what is meant by ‘voice of God’. It has been defined as the ‘heavenly or divine voice which proclaims God’s will or judgement’, however, in my opinion the ‘voice of God’ definition should also include divine guidance as the original definition leaves out the idea of God as a guide without his actual voice telling a person the idea. The argument of ‘is the conscience the voice of God?’ often runs into difficulties; this is due to the fact that if the conscience is not the voice of God then what is it? This may also be a problem for Christian thinkers as, if the conscience is not the voice of God it gives moral authority to something outside of God.
Kant also believed in humans’ innate moral duty. Kant’s primary point was his theory that all of us have moral duty and that our conscience is what tells us when we go against this, through being guilty or shameful. Therefore, an action which can be classed as good or moral is one which fulfils this sense of duty. Kant also believed that reason was the way to reach realisation and that we can find out moral duty by thinking objectively. In addition, Kant said that we should not be inclined to do things and that we should think about things and try and apply his ethical theory before carrying them out, therefore, we should not do things because of our emotions.
A deontologist believes that right actions and wrong actions are set in stone however a teleologist believes that an action can only be right or wrong depending on what the consequences and end result of that action are. For a teleologist there are no set right or wrong actions. Situation ethics is a teleological ethical theory as well as being a consequential ethical theory. The principle of Utility for Situation ethics is “Love and not Law is our guide”. This means that if everyone has love, it over rules law in every situation.
The first is of Kant who believes that self interest should be disregarded when deciding whether actions are moral or not. This is because morals can be manipulated for our own benefit. I.e. morality is subjective. This can be interpreted as self interest is part of, or is, morality, which can lead to justifying actions which go against the consensus of society e.g.