Transcript Morality in the Modern World

Morality in the Modern World
• This part of the course has 2
areas.
• Area 1: The Relationship
between Religion and Moral
Values.
• Area 2: Medical Ethics
Area One:
The Euthyphro Dilemma
Possible Relationships between
Religion and Moral Values
Guiding Principles: Interpretation
of Sacred Writings; The Golden
Rule; Virtue Theory; Utilitarian
Ethics; Kantian Ethics.
Some Big Questions in Ethics:
• If I do a good thing for a bad reason, does it
matter?
• Do ends justify means?
• Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of
the few or the one?
• Is what’s wrong for you necessarily wrong for
me?
• Is an action right or wrong depending on the
situation?
Should anyone
ever cheat on
their partner?
Should we help
people who are
starving in other
countries?
Is it ever right to
go to war?
Is it right for a
woman to have an
abortion?
Morality in the
Modern World
Starter
How would you define the term Morality?
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Morality in the Modern
World
• Morality: from the Latin ‘Moralis’
concerned with which actions are right
and wrong and the reasons people give
for choosing to act the way they do.
• Ethics: from the Greek ‘ethikos’,
meaning ‘character’, ‘custom’ or usage’
concerned with the customary way to
behave in society.
• Nowadays these terms are used
interchangeably
How ‘Moral' are the Following People?
Number the following people between 110.
1 = They have a very good sense of
Morality (Are Good)
10= Poor Sense of Morality (Are Evil)
How Do We Make Moral Decisions
(Decide what is right or wrong?)
In Pairs Complete the Following Brainstorm.
How Do People Make
Moral Decisions?
• You’re close to a
breakthrough with a new
medical treatment, but
to complete your work
you must carry out some
particularly slow and
painful experiments on
animals. What do you
do?
• The parent’s of a car crash
victim allow their son’s body to
be used for transplants, but only
if the parts go to white patients.
Do you accept their condition?
• A railway drawbridge operator is closing the
bridge for the express train that’s about to
arrive when he sees his son trapped in the
machinery. To close the bridge will kill his
son but save the train. To open the bridge
will save his son but the train will not be able
to stop in time. What should he do?
• An unattractive
man (or woman)
offers to give a
million pounds
to charity if
you spend one
night with him.
What do you
do?
Is the study of morality
easy?
• “Line dancing is as sinful as any other
type of dancing with its sexual
gestures and touching! It is an
incitement to lust!”
• Dr Ian Paisley, Presbyterian minister