Chapter 1
What are the three philosophers in Chapter 1?
Aristotle, Kant and Levinas.
What is solidarity?
Solidarity is defined as a state of emotional or behavioural unanimity, particularly among people who share a same objective.
What is narcissism?
A disorder marked by self-absorption to the exclusion of others.
What are the church's three main time periods?
1. Jewish tradition and Christianity
2. Greek and European Christianity
3. Global Christianity
What is a gentile?
A person who is not part of the Jewish faith, or not of Jewish ancestry.
What is Aristotle's theory called?
Teleological Ethics
What is human dignity?
At its most basic, the concept of human dignity is the belief that all people hold a special value that’s tied solely to their humanity. It has nothing to do with their class, race, gender, religion, abilities, or any other factor other than them being human.
What are the 3 levels of consiousness?
1. Conscience as a capacity to recognize right and wrong
2. Conscience as a process of moral reasoning
3. Conscience as a judgment
What is a "call story"?
The Bible contains a number of stories of God calling people and imparting to them a mission.
What is the purpose of the church?
In the Spirit, the Church passes on what Jesus taught, not only in the area of doctrine, but also moral life. The Church shapes moral character. The Church guards and maintains moral tradition. And the Church is a community of moral deliberation.
What is Kant's theory called?
Deontological Ethics
What are three key points from the ethical theory of Aristotle?
Aristotle does not equate happiness with pleasure. Pleasure, for Aristotle, was suitable forcattle. Pleasure is only momentary. Happiness, however, is an enduring state of someone who does well the tasks that are typical of a human being. Happiness is the condition of the good person who succeeds in living well and acting well.
Every art and every scientific inquiry, and similarly every action and purpose, may be said to aim at some good. Hence the good has been well defined as that at which all things aim.
This is Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean. Be moderate in all things. To be courageous is to avoid some but not all dangers; to be polite is to be courteous in some but not in all situations. To be generous is to stay somewhere between extravagance and stinginess. Try to stay in the middle, but in a middle that suits you as an individual. For you, for example, the mean for drinking may mean drinking in moderation, or not at all.
Who are the three key thinkers in Chapter 2?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Paul Ricoeur
Sigmund Freud
What do the gospels say?
The gospels say that the coming of God is manifested in the very person of Jesus.
What is St. Paul's mission?
St. Paul believed that his vision proved that Jesus lived in heaven, that he was the Messiah and God's Son, and that he would soon return. Moreover, St. Paul thought that the purpose of this revelation was his own appointment to preach among the Gentiles.
What is Levinas's theory called?
An Ethics Of The Face
What are three key points from the ethical theory of Kant?
Kant was primarily concerned about the certainty of the principles of ethical reasoning. He recognized that in the domain of ethics we could not arrive at the same type of certainty as we can in physics and mathematics. Ethics presents us not with rational, cognitive confidence, but with practical confidence. In this practical area of our lives, he held that there are three areas of interest: God, freedom and immortality.
Kant intended, rather, that people never be treated only as a means, that is, without regard to their dignity or their working conditions. It would be unethical to take advantage of workers who have little power relative to their employers, such as young people, immigrants, people with little education, or poor people. Workers must be respected.
Kant’s ethics is more individual. His ethics is to be discovered in private life, in the inner convictions and autonomy of the individual. In Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785), Kant proposes how individuals attain the good. He begins by saying, “It is impossible to conceive anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except a good will.” 8 For Kant, in all circumstances, what is to be prized above all else is goodwill. It is our most precious possession, a good in itself.
What is naturalism?
Naturalism understands the material universe as a unified system. In it, everything is shaped completely by physical, biological, psychological, social and environmental processes.
What are the six parts of the call story?
Elements of divine confirmation include an introductory word from God, a commission from God, objection by the one called based on his inadequacies, reassurance of help from God, and a sign from God affirming the call.
What is a conversion?
A radical transformation of values, a turning around, that takes place at the intellectual level as an awareness and openness to truth and true knowing, at the moral level when I recognize myself as free and responsible, and at the religious level where my preoccupation with myself is taken over with the love of God and love for others.
What is the difference between ethics and morality?
While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.
What are three key points from the ethical theory of Levinas?
Levinas’s philosophy as a whole is ethical. Like Aristotle’s and Kant’s ethics, Levinas is in search of the good. For Levinas the good – actually, the “Good” – is the central question of all philosophy. Whereas most Western philosophies are in search of Being, Levinas went in search of the Good, which he said goes beyond Being. Being seeks to name what things have in common when you take away all the differences. For Levinas, this concept of Being is dangerous because it takes away from reality what is its most fascinating quality: that each person or thing is incredibly unique. Levinas wants to maintain the uniqueness of each thought and act. The Good is interested, not in what is in common among things, but in what is absolutely unique about each person or thing
Levinas goes to the experience of the human face that turns to me and looks at me. The face is the most naked part of the human body. In one of his articles Levinas lashes out against make-up. He sees it as an attempt to hide. But despite all efforts (he may not have thought of coloured contact lenses) the eyes can never be made up.
For Levinas the face makes us responsible. This responsibility is our human vocation, our calling. Here the search for the Good ends. His ethics does not bend us in God’s direction, but it twists us in the direction of our neighbour. God’s infinite goodness touches us without our knowledge. God’s touch will always be indirect. God touches us through the face of the Other who begs spare change of us. God refuses to appear, leaving only a trace in the face of the Other, retreating to make room for the Other. Goodness, the Infinite One, translates into responsibility for the Other.
What is a moral agent?
A moral agent is any person or collective entity with the capacity to exercise moral agency. It is suggested that rational thought and deliberation are prerequisite skills for any agent. In this way, moral agents can discern between right and wrong and be held accountable for the consequences of their actions.
What is eschatological ethics?
Eschatological ethics strives for the infinite good. It is an ethics of response to an experience of being loved. No one of us can ever do enough. It calls upon our best efforts even though the result appears to be only a fraction of God’s goodness.
How does the church shape moral character?
The church has an impact on our moral vision. The Church’s position on ethical and moral issues is reported widely in its own publications, the press, television and Internet, and is taught in churches, Catholic schools and Catholic homes. But these official pronouncements are not the only contribution that the church makes to moral life and moral character formation. Much of the Church’s impact on our lives is through its effect on our imagination. Moral character requires more than ideas for its formation. It requires imagination. The Church is most effective through its rituals and images, through its art and architecture, through its symbols and stories, through the Bible and the liturgy.