#Christian ethics

[troythecatfish]

[locustheologicus]

The Good Place: Metaethics and Moral Intuition.

Finally, a comedy about ethics and ethicist. The shows creator Michael Schur really came out with an amazing concept that allows the audience to both laugh hysterically and think critically at the same time. I highly recommend this show but I am a moral philosophers of sorts and as the show is fond of saying, “this is why everyone hates moral philosophy professors.” In the past I have raised moral issues and brought up ethical lessons from this show but up to now I have not dedicated a post on the moral contributions of this show.

The premise of the show presents a deep, perhaps the deepest, of moral dilemmas. Eleanor, a morally flawed individual has accidentally been admitted into the good place (heaven). And that person wants to avoid getting caught and be sent to the bad place (hell). In order to do this she teams up with her unusually cooperative “soul mate” Chidi who happens to be a moral philosopher to learn to be a good person and earn her stay in the good place (now that she knows it’s for real). As the video above states, the show highlights two important ethical aspects, the overall context of philosophical ethics known as metaethics, and the role of moral intuition as it emerges in Eleanor’s quest to be good.

Evidently Eleanor’s character is so morally deficient that Chidi has to introduce her to metaethics. Metaethics is the study of the foundational worldview for an ethical framework. Christianity most certainly employs a form of moral realism that consist of formal moral norms and yet is open to cultural interpretation. Many ethical frameworks play a role in Christian ethics including deontology, utilitarianism, proportionalism, divine command, virtue ethics, and ethics of care but natural law theory is perhaps one of the strongest frameworks it has. Crash course philosophy offers a wonderful introduction below.

The second moral aspect of “The Good Place” that I want to highlight is the role of moral intuition. It is interesting how Michael Schur develops the premise for the show and plays out the moral dilemma that Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani are in. We later learn that the heavenly architect is actually a demon named Michael who designed a false “good place” in order to torture his victims with a moral dilemma which was meant to torture them in the afterlife, a subtle “bad place” that is based on Jean Paul Satre’s belief the “hell is other people.” The context for the show suggests there is a determined universe based on some kind of point system and as we become aware of Eleanor’s earthly reality in Season 1 episode 12 we see how young Eleanor’s family impacted her own apathetic moral development. This demonstrates how causes determined the choices she made which impacted her own moral development. But as the show progresses and Eleanor enters the world of metaethics (albeit for initially self serving motives) moral wrenches are thrown in every episode suggesting that unexpected moral intuitions can impact a determined order.

Probabilism suggests that in the absence of certainty, plausible ethical opinions may offer a legitimate, but perhaps unpredictable, moral decision. In a determined universe we see a certain order based on cause and effects but the realm of quantum mechanics demonstrates that we are aware of probability waves that can only show us the probability of causal reactions without absolute certainty. We do not know how probable and perhaps unpredictable free actions may impact a determined universe. This is what I have been calling probable determinism. A theory which suggests that at the quantum level of individual decision making there are only probable actions that may alter the deterministic design in ways we currently do not understand. Institutions may exist within a realm of moral absolutism but the principles that flow from these institutional pronouncements can, at best, guide and influence individual actions. In the end it is the individual actions that can bend and warp the fabric of the moral universe. This is what we have considered free will and actions.

Moral intutions exist within the framework of our humanity through what we call conscience. I'll discuss this more in another post following this one on ethical frameworks but what is important to know is that even though we do not know how our conscience works our philosophical ancestors, from Cicero to Aquinas, believed that we are equipped with a God given moral intuition that recognizes, at some level, the moral principles of the natural law. This intuition has been called the synderesis and it is almost like having a moral God-particle that orients us all to the universal moral norms and principles. What the show and ethics believes in is that learning ethical perspectives may not, in and of itself, make us a better person, but it can activate our moral intuition, our synderesis, in ways that allow us to be better attuned to these norms and priniciples as we consider the moral conundrums we face.

Eleanor is able to mess with the order of Michael’s design and the purpose of the "good" place through the unexpected moral actions she chooses. The judges and architects of the afterlife loose control of even their most sanitary system like Janet's void which is normally an empty white space but by season four looks like this.

The point is that Eleanor’s enhanced ethical development does seem to make an impact. On a personal level it develops her moral intuition which allows her to be more reflective to other positions and become more morally considerate to others. These intuitions on the other hand allow her to change the cosmological equation which for the show meant to perpetuate a subtle tortuous suffering between the four protagonists. Eleanor’s ability to love and empathize with others now builds an authentic friendship with Chidi, Jason, and Tahani (it even morally impacts the demon Michael who was responsible for tormenting them), and that undermines their tortured existence. All this seems to infer that our morally reflective free will and actions does have a role in changing our own cosmological reality. An interesting idea for us to ethically consider.

[thinkingonscripture]

The Value of Integrity

Integrity is the currency of a healthy relationship, but only among those who value it. It is the fruit of a morally upright heart that practices honesty, loyalty, and justice (Psa 15:1-5; Prov 19:1; 28:6; Mic 6:8). Without integrity, trust is compromised, communication suffers, and the stability of the relationship is jeopardized. Duplicity stands in stark contrast to integrity. While integrity…

[ravnlghtft]

Under the program, families receive a debit card preloaded with $40 per month per eligible child, restricted for use on food. In Tennessee last year, this initiative — branded as "Sun Bucks" — issued $120 to each child over three months, injecting an estimated $77 million into local grocery stores and generating up to $140 million in economic activity.

[thewordenreport]

Biologically, experiences of awe, whether religious, moral, or in Nature, can render a person less self-centered.

[pastordin]

Commands of the King: Work and Vocation

Life Areas Application: Work and Vocation | Pastor Aamir Din Home | Media | Contact Life Areas Application: Work and Vocation “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” — Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV) Part III: Life Areas…

[liwayway0219]

i have nobody to share this to

[mindfulldsliving]

Cultural Perspectives on the Golden Rule: Empathy in Action

The Golden Rule is a powerful principle that resonates across cultures and religions, urging us to treat others as we wish to be treated. It's a simple yet profound guideline for living a life of empathy and kindness.

Interpreting The Golden Rule: Insights from 3 Nephi 14:12, Matthew 7:12, and Luke 6:31 Why has “The Golden Rule” resonated across centuries? It’s simple yet profound, urging us to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. This powerful idea finds a place in diverse teachings, including scriptures like 3 Nephi 14:12, Matthew 7:12, and Luke 6:31. As we explore these passages, we see a…

[biblepreacher]

War & Politics: Conquer Evil with Good

We are continuing our series answering the questions of "war & politics". In this post we talk about how to conquer evil with good, which is a crucial point in my framework. For this reason, this post is larger and deeper in scope than the others.

One of the most compelling axioms of our time is the saying “when good men do nothing, evil prevails.” When we look around and see what is being done to babies, how our children are being mutilated, and our society is becoming cruel, desperate, and corrupt, I think we yearn from the deepest recesses of our soul for justice. We look for answers that tell us what we can do about the evils we see…

[compassionmattersmost]

When Christianity Became the Empire: A Reflection on Faith, Power, and Deception

Throughout history, the story of Christianity has been one of profound transformation. From its humble beginnings as a faith centered on the teachings of Jesus—a man who preached love, forgiveness, and non-violence—Christianity evolved into a powerful institution, closely tied to the machinery of empire. This evolution raises important questions about the nature of faith, power, and the dangers…

[irishgop]

What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.

St. Francis De Sales

[locustheologicus]

Ethical Frameworks and a Return to Casuistry.

Ethical Frameworks: At a recent workshop I received this decision-making tool from the Markkula Center which I found extremely helpful. It briefly shows the process that needs to be taken when someone has to make an ethical decision. The process is spelled out below.

The following link from the Markkula center has further resources on this.

Frederic Reamer presents his own framework for ethical decision making for social workers in his book, “Social Work Values and Ethics.” It is not to dissimilar from what Markkula presents above. In describing the process Reamer offers the following preamble:

No precise formula for resolving ethical dilemmas exists. Reasonable, thoughful social workers can disagree about the ethical principles and criteria that ought to guide ethical decisions in any given case. But ethicists generally agree on the importance of approaching ethical decisions systematically, by following a series of steps to ensure that all aspects of the ethical dilemma are addressed, Following a series of clearly formulated steps allows social workers to enhance the quality of the ethical decisions they make. (Reamer, pg. 88)

Reamer shares the following seven points as an ethical framework for social workers.

Identify the ethical issues, including the social work values and duties that conflict.

Identify the individuals, groups, and organizations likely to be affected by the ethical decision.

Tentatively identify all viable courses of action and the participants involved in each, along with the potential benefits and risks for each.

Thoroughly examine the reasons in favor of and against each course of action, considering relevant codes of ethics and legal principles; ethical theories, principles, and guidelines (e.g. deontological and teleological-utilitarian perspectives and ethical guidelines based on them); social work practice theory and principles; relevant laws, policies, and social work practice standards; and personal values (including religious l, cultural, and ethnic values and political ideology), particularly conflicts between one’s own and others’ values.

Consult with colleagues and appropriate experts (such as agency staff, supervisors, agency administrators, attorneys, and ethical scholars).

Make the decision and document the decision-making process.

Monitor, evaluate, and document the decision.

The point of the process is to make an ethical decision. Many times the decision will be pretty straightforward and the process will be pretty basic. But at times a morally complex scenario will present itself and still, an ethical decision will need to be made. But such decisions will be complicated and it not everyone will make the same decision. To this Reamer tells us,

This does not reveal a fundamental flaw in the decision making framework. Rather, it highlights an unavoidable attribute of ethical decision making: complicated cases are likely to produce different assessments and conclusions among different practitioners, even after thorough and systematic analysis of the ethical issues. After all, reasonable minds can differ. (Reamer, pg. 105)

Reamer’s astute observation here brings to mind a former Catholic moral method that is very applicable to those of us who work with complicated clients and cases.

A Return to Casuistry: Ethics is such a vitally tool for addressing difficult challenges. The workshop I attended was on the challenge of using AI in the social service sector but the night before I had another workshop on preparing our migrant communities for potentially draconian policy shifts that will dramatically impact their lives. In both cases we considered real case studies that presented moral dilemmas. I thought more about this ethical process in light of these two issues.

Case studies are an essential aspect of ethics. Moral principles have a very important role to play as well but as the authors Toulmin and Jonsen have written in their book “The Abuse of Casuistry,”

Moral knowledge is essential particular, so that sound resolutions of moral problems must always be rooted in a concrete understanding of specific cases and circumstances. (Toulmin/Jonsen, pg. 330)

In the video below we hear from a comedian/ethicist Michael Schur who explains how a particular ethical case formed a moral dilemma that shaped his ethical lens.

In this TED talk Michael Schur, the creator of the Netflix show “The Good Place,” shares his own ethical formation and the framework that he employed to discern the right action. In the midst of his presentation on the ethical dilemma that so moved him he shares that he was becoming “sick to my stomach” as he morally considered the results of his action. His own conscience, his moral intuition, was playing a key role in this dilemma. This intuition had him review ethical literature to evaluate further his action. At the conclusion of his talk he suggest that ethical cases, like the one he presents, can help shape good moral habits. Schur suggests that developing ethical frames of references will help us become better people. It will help us succeed at making better choices and reflecting on our own happiness and the greater good.

Becoming aware of the philosophical ideal of the moral good, accepted virtues for the development of our moral character, existing ethical frameworks, and moral decision-making processes, will grant us a deeper and richer perspective on who we are and how we can become better and people. To become a better person is a fundamental goal that all humans share and ethics is a tool to help shape our humanity.

Contemporary Catholic moral theology tends to focus more on moral principles rather than methodology. Focused on their concern for “intrinsically evil acts” the Church has periodically focused more on principles as moral absolutes where methods or probable moral positions are given less consideration with certain moral positions. This unfortunate development emerged as moral theology attempted to employ a geometric/mathematical approach to ethics with the assumption that ethical problems could be resolved with a rigorous application of moral absolutes.

But in the world of medical or social work ethics it is important to promote case studies and to perhaps bring back a moral system that promoted this form of moral theology. This is what the 13th - 17th century art of casuistry offered. Stephen Toulmin and Albert Jonsen explored this historical contribution to moral reason and address the contemporary need to bring back this branch of moral theology. The authors define their thesis in this way.

Practical moral reasoning today still fits the pattern of topical (or “rhetorical”) argumentation better than it does of formal (or “geometrical”) demonstration. (Toulmin/Jonsen, pg. 326)

Ethical case studies that address particular moral issues allow the ethical framework to respect the role of one’s conscience in discerning the moral dilemma that we each face. The idea of the primacy of conscience has always been defended by the Catholic Church, but more as an idea than as a practice. Toulmin/Jonsen believe that casuistry can help form a practice that allows us to develop our conscience.

In offering this position Toulmin/Jonsen remind us of the role of synderesis which is a component within the individual conscience based on the theory of natural law. It is defined by Aquinas as “a natural disposition concerned with the basic principles of behavior, which are the general principles of natural law.” The moral principles that our religious and educational institutions develop exist within our own conscience as a natural disposition that can grasp and discern their application within the ethical situations we each face.

Aquinas, then, reserves the word conscientia for “the application of general judgments of synderesis to particulars.” This application can be either prospective, in discovering what is to be done in a particular situation, or retrospective, in testing what is to be done in order to discern whether one acted rightly. (Toulmin/Jonsen, pg. 129)

Through the period that Toulmin/Jonsen call “high casuistry” (15th through the 17th Century) many theologians utilized this ethical method to evaluate unique issues that they had not faced before. Until the middle of the 17th century, when Pascal wrote his scathing work, The Pastoral Letters, casuistry enjoyed a preeminent moral authority that allowed moral theologians like Francisco de Vitoria to address unique and particular issues. Vitoria’s 16th century contribution would establish the framework for human rights language, international law, just war, and the ideals of the enlightenment. These cases emerged as casuist like Vitoria analyzed the situation of Europe as the Reformation took hold and the emergence of nationalism. He also evaluated the Spanish relationship with and obligation to the indigenous community in the midst of the American colonial situation. These contributions surfaced because Vitoria had the ability to consider probable ethical opinions on a range of issues that emerged during that time and we now take for granted. But we now face our own unique moral dilemmas and we require the same flexibility to respond to these ethical issues through a rhetorical approach that considers the best probable ethical opinion to our own case studies.

The Markkula Center, Michael Schur, and Toulmin/Jonsen, would all seem to suggest that the moral development of a person is best achieved by the use of ethical frameworks within particular case studies that present a real moral dilemma. You may not always get the right action or make the best ethical decision, but the more you employ and discern these ethical frameworks, the more you achieve a higher ethical standard, the more you become a better person and attain happiness.

One other point needs to be made. The casuist approach to ethics was both a communal and personal one. A contemporary concern may be that casuist may reinforce a subjective or situational approach to ethics that devalues objective principles to the point of being absolutely relativistic. Toulmin/Jonsen do not agree and Vitoria’s use of casuistry suggests that it was not used this way (beyond the controversies of the moral laxists that Pascal reproached).

For the casuists,… informed conscience might be intensely personal, but its primary concern was to place the individual agent’s decision into its larger context at the level of actual choice: namely, the moral dialogue and debate of a community. Conscience was “knowing together” (con-scientia). The dialogue and debate consisted in the critical application of paradigms to new circumstances, but those “paradigms” were the collective possession of people - priests, rabbis or common lawyers or moral theologians- who had the education, the opportunity, and the experience needed to reflect on the difficulties raised by new cases and to argue them through among themselves. (Toulmin/Jonsen, pg. 335)

As I approach the ethics of social ministry there will be many contemporary similarities that is see with how both medical and social work ethics utilize case studies to hone in their own ethical inquiries. In the case of Catholic social ministry I would like to suggest that the method of casuistry should be redeployed to help us develop an ethical approach befitting the social ministries and mission of the Church.

[thinkingonscripture]

Be Wise as Serpents and Innocent as Doves

Jesus told His disciples, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). There are times when Christians will find themselves in the midst of a pack of wolves, which is a dangerous situation. When this happens, they should maintain purity in their intentions while being shrewd in their conduct to avoid unwarranted harm.[1] Doves are…

[selfhelp2024]

Is AI Deceiving Christians? Unveiling the Truth Behind Technology and Faith:

In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) has woven itself into the fabric of daily life, from voice-activated assistants to complex algorithms guiding our choices, Christians face a pivotal question: Is AI deceiving us?

Read More HERE

[tmarshconnors]

Does it scare you to think about what Satan is trying to do to your kids?

What are you doing to make sure he doesn’t? Are you teaching your children about God?

Are you setting an example for them showing them what faithfulness looks like? Do you take them to church and Bible class?

Do you talk to them about the lies and immorality that the devil has made normal?

Do you keep them from playing video games and watching shows that slip in things that will take them off course? Do you pray for them and over them?

Don’t think for one second that you can let up or slack off. Evil doesn’t.

[thewordenreport]

Biologically, experiences of awe, whether religious, moral, or in Nature, can render a person less self-centered. https://thewordenreport-religion.blogspot.com/2024/12/overriding-selfishness-by-experiencing.html