...The idea of war is abhorred by the overwhelming majority of people, so why is it still a part of reality today? Whether the reason is for economic or territorial gain, regime change, or religious influence, involved parties always attempt to rationalize the actions of war. How can war be justified if it results in the destruction of entire cities and the loss of innocent lives? The justification of war is one of the most provocative debates in the history of mankind. A theory that aims to clear up the circumstances where war is morally tolerated is the “Just War” theory. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the just war theory is: “The notion that the resort to armed force is justified under certain conditions; also, the notion that the...
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...University of Sharjah International Relations Political Theory Ideas on States and Justice in the thought of Augustine and Rousseau Essay Assignment By: May Ramez Mahrat Supervised by: Dr. Jeremy Kleidosty Arguments and philosophical explanations for what justifies power and states, inspired by the European Enlightenment thought, has headed closer toward reasoning and further from faith. The thought of Rousseau and Saint Augustine is a clear representation of the two poles of reason and faith in political thought. Rousseau, outlining the basis of his social contract on the natural goodness of human beings and putting sovereignty in the hand s of people, differs widely from Augustine who addresses the state as an “essential evil” put to discipline men who are sinners by nature. The political arguments of these two philosophers, who lived in two different ages, represent a different kind of Enlightenment for the both ages that they lived in. This essay will discuss Rousseau’s and Augustine’s regards to state, justice and property and will examine the effects of their thoughts on modern politics. Augustine and Rousseau in Comparison Wrapping his political and social beliefs with virtuous, deist and theological Christian discourse, Augustine, the Christian bishop, presents a leap in the Western thought at a time close to the beginning of the middle ages. His political views in his writings are interpreted differently by various scholars as he rarely expresses direct...
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...Just War theory is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics studied by theologians, ethicists, policy makers and military leaders. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. The criteria are split into two groups: ‘the right to go to war’ and ‘right conduct in war’ . The first concerns the morality of going to war and the second with moral conduct within war. Recently there have been calls for the inclusion of a third category of just war theory - jus post bellum - dealing with the morality of post-war settlement and reconstruction. Just War theory postulates that war, while very terrible, is not always the worst option. There may be responsibilities so important, atrocities which can be prevented or outcomes so undesirable they justify war. Origins The Indian epic, the Mahabharata, offers one of the first written discussions of a 'just war'. In it, one of five ruling brothers asks if the suffering caused by war can ever be justified, and then a long discussion ensues between the siblings, establishing criteria like proportionality, just means, just cause, and fair treatment of captives and the wounded. The war in Mahabharata is preceded by context that develops the "just cause" for the war including last minute efforts to reconcile differences to avoid war. At the beginning of the war, there is the discussion of "just conduct" appropriate...
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...Saint Augustus and Aquinas are both known for their input in the field of philosophy. With Augustus, coming some centuries before Aquinas. They both had similarities and differences in their inferences to different topics. Their similarities in this regard are they both explored the contrast of faith and reason and how they are related to each other. They both believe in the fulfillment of higher truths through faith. They both had aforethought on faith as trust in the scriptures and the belief in the reality of God. They also had some differences which included, St. Augustine, who was more inclined to the Platonist way of inference while St. Aquinas was more inclined to the Aristotelian way of thinking. St. Augustine believed that logic or...
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...fight for dominance power and land has been the main cause of war. The 30 years war, named after its length of war during 1618 to 1648 is the only war that was solely fought for religious reasons between European powers of that era. The thirty years was is considered a religious war because the growth increase in religious intolerance and religious rivalries which led to be the sole cause of the war but as the war progressed it became less about religion and more about territory and dynastic issues. Previous to the 30 years’ war the Holy Roman Empire was facing a large hold of its catholic followers; the church had begun to decline due to scandals inside of the church. In 1555 peace of Augsburg became recognized as the first treaty indicating that the leader of the Holy Roman Empire could determine the religion of its people it ruled , this was a tactic to reestablish and re enforce the catholic church and weaken the protestant and Lutheran church. This lead to the 30 years’ war, a time where political differences and fight for religious freedom where fought. During the time of the 30 years war, it faced four different stages during its time. This four eras of the war where the...
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...“I have noticed my conscience for many years, and I know it is more trouble and bother to me than anything else I started with.”(Mark Twain) People are often advised to follow their conscience because by definition it is “Our sense of moral right and wrong.”(Oliphant) It is a moral faculty or sense that leads individuals to believe that actions are morally wrong or right. Yet it can lead on person to choose war and another to feel this is morally abhorrent. There is a lot debate regarding where the conscience comes from, whether it be by a God given ability which is pushed forwards by biblical teachings, or from the sense of guilt we feel when we go against our conscience according to Sigmund Freud. “The Conscience is a difficult notion to understand and even more difficult to explain how it operates,” (Richard Gula) therefore there are many definitions of conscience and there are many philosophical theories about conscience and it connection with moral decision making. Firstly an argument for the conscience, which is the voice of God, comes from Augustine of Hippo, who said that “Men see the moral rules written in the book of light which is called Truth from which all laws are copied.” (De Trinitate, Augustine of Hippo). He was a theologian and believed that the conscience is God’s love poured forth to human beings, thus it is when God speaks to the individual, therefore he is arguing that the conscience is the voice of God and it reveals itself in solitary moments thus is not...
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...religion Why is there evil in the world created by a God who is moral, all powerful and perfect? God is moral, all powerful and perfect. He is also which none greater can be conceived. Any attribute of God is overwhelmingly superior to anything we can fathom. So when we try to measure and configure god’s motives, we are really setting ourselves in a maze. One argument is that, due to mankind's limited knowledge, humans cannot expect to understand God or God's ultimate plan. When a parent takes an infant to the doctor for a regular vaccination to prevent some childhood disease, it's because the parent cares for and loves that child. The young child, however, will almost always see things very differently. It is argued that just as an infant cannot possibly understand the motives of its parent while it is still only a child, people cannot comprehend God's will in their current physical and earthly state. Now why is there evil in the world if God is so supreme. Augustine had his view on why evil exist if god is so good. Augustine based his theodicy on his reading of key Biblical passages: Genesis 3 and Romans 5:12-20 Genesis 3 is the story of Adam and Eve and their ‘”fall” in the Garden of Eden. In it the snake convinces the woman to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The woman picks the fruit, and passes some to Adam. Because of their disobedience God has them evicted from the garden. In Romans 5 Paul describes the Christian...
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...casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group". The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom". The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. The Main Branches of Philosophy are divided as to the nature of the questions asked in each area. The integrity of these divisions cannot be rigidly maintained, for one area overlaps into the others. A. Axiology: the study of value; the investigation of its nature, criteria, and metaphysical status. More often than not, the term "value theory" is used instead of "axiology" in contemporary discussions even though the term “theory of value” is used with respect to the value or price of goods and services in economics. Axiology is usually divided into two main parts. Ethics: the study of values in human behavior or the study of moral problems: e.g., (1) the rightness and wrongness of actions, (2) the kinds of things which are good or desirable, and (3) whether actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy. Æsthetics: the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into feelings, judgments, or standards of beauty and related concepts. Philosophy of art is concerned with judgments of sense, taste, and emotion. B. Epistemology: the study of knowledge. In particular, epistemology is the study of the nature, scope, and limits of...
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...Historically, economic theory originated in the happy union of Athens and Jerusalem known as “the natural law,” and has always returned to the sanity of its roots—after exhausting the alternatives. As I read its history, economic theory has nearly completed its last great detour away from sanity, and is rapidly running out of alternatives to a renewal of “natural-law economics.” If such a renewal occurs, it won’t be because economists have decided to sit down and learn from philosophers (or, God forbid, theologians)—nothing could be farther from their minds—but for the same reason as the last seismic shift in economics, which began in the 1870s: a growing number of economists are finding the current state of economic theory a professional embarrassment. Of course, I may be underestimating the average economist’s threshold of embarrassment. But let me explain the nature of that * John D. Mueller is Associate Scholar of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and president of LBMC LLC, a financial-markets forecasting firm. For most of the 1980s he was Economic Counsel to the House Republican Conference (caucus) under chairman Jack Kemp. The research on which this article is based was made possible by The Lehrman Institute and the James Madison Program at Princeton University. 2 embarrassment, why only a renewed “natural law economics” will relieve it, and why non-economists should care. A Brief History of Economics. The most emblematic moment for economic theory since the Second...
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...AS Philosophy & Ethics Course Handbook 2013 to 2014 [pic] OCR AS Level Religious Studies (H172) http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gce/hss/rs/index.aspx OCR AS Level Religious Studies (H172) You are studying Philosophy of Religion and Religious Ethics and will be awarded an OCR AS Level in Religious Studies. The modules and their weightings are: |AS: |Unit Code |Unit Title |% of AS |(% of A Level) | | |G571 |AS Philosophy of Religion |50% |(25%) | | |G572 |AS Religious Ethics |50% |(25%) | If you decide to study for the full A Level you will have to study the following modules at A2: |A2: |Unit Code |Unit Title |(% of A Level) | | |G581 |A2 Philosophy of Religion |(25%) | | |G582 |A2 Religious Ethics |(25%) | Grading | ...
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...to do what is right. • All wrongdoing is the result of ignorance – nobody chooses to do wrong deliberately. • Therefore, to be moral you must have true knowledge. The problem of the One and the Many Plato was trying to find a solution to the problem that although there is underlying stability in the world (sun comes up every morning), it is constantly changing (you never step into the same river twice). 1. An old theory about this problem is that we gain all knowledge from our senses – empirically. 2. Plato disagreed with this. He said that because the world is constantly changing, our senses cannot be trusted. Plato illustrated his idea in the dialogue, ‘Meno’: Socrates sets a slave boy a mathematical problem. The slave boy knows the answer, yet he has not been taught maths. Plato suggests that the slave boy remembers the answer to the problem, which has been in his mind all along. So, according to Plato, we don't learn new things, we remember them. In other words, knowledge is innate. Plato’s Theory of the Forms Plato believed that the world was divided into: 1. Reality and; 2. Appearance |REALITY |APPEARANCE | |An intelligible world |A visible world | |A world beyond the senses |A world of senses | |A world of true knowledge |A world of opinions | ...
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...Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, Secular Humanism and Scientology. 3. What is Paul Tillich's definition for religion, and why do Hopfe and Woodward consider its development too broad? a) Paul Tillich defines religion as, “that which is of ultimate concern”. Hopfe and Woodward consider the development of Tillich’s definition of religion too broad for a world religions course because a philosophical exploration of Tillich’s definition of religion, yields many an individuals personal belief of what is of ultimate concern hardly lending to the general understanding of popular or mainstream religions they hope to accomplish in this text. 4. Explain E. B. Tylor's theory concerning the origin and evolution of religion. What is animism, and to what, "ultimately" and "finally," did Tylor think it evolved? a) E.B. Tylor’s theory regarding the origin and evolution of religion is that primitive people developed a sense of other or soul from their experiences with death and dreams. Animism is the belief that nature, natural phenomena and the universe itself all possess some kind of soul. Tylor believes animism evolved into polytheistic views and ultimately into monotheism. 5. To what does the term "mana" refer?...
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...When, If Ever is a Lie Morally Permissible? Peggy Scott Phil 6 Symbolic Logic Summer Session B August 21, 2001 Chapters directed to: 1,2 and 3; Pg. 39-42 Conflicts of Duty, 4,7,11 Conclusion, Augustine, Aquinas & Kant Lying to protect the anonymity of Alcoholics Anonymous members and their families helps them join the group, recover and chart a new course for their lives. The few occasional lies necessary to keep their affiliation with the group private are morally acceptable, because society is safer if these people are in AA than if they are not in AA. Alcoholics have very little chance of staying sober without AA, and they often do terrible things to anyone in their path when they are drunk. Anonymity encourages participation in AA for both new and continuing members, and fewer would join and stay sober if they had to bear the burden of public knowledge of their condition. As a matter of public policy, our communities are generally strong supporters of AA, providing meeting rooms, considerable goodwill and privacy for over fifty years now. AA and the public both benefit by every alcoholic who quits drinking, because a sober drunk is a safer drunk. When we look to the individual level, what's in the best interest of the public and what’s best for the sober alcoholic are often diametrically opposed. The legal, social and economic repercussions for having identified oneself as an alcoholic could be devastating to a sober alcoholic person if this information...
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...In Conjunction with History of Ethics Instructor: Robert Cavalier Teaching Professor Robert Cavalier received his BA from New York University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duquesne University. In 1987 he joined the staff at Carnegie Mellon's Center for Design of Educational Computing (CDEC), where he became Executive Director in 1991. While at CDEC, he was also co-principal in the 1989 EDUCOM award winner for Best Humanities Software (published in 1996 by Routledge as A Right to Die? The Dax Cowart Case). He also coauthored the CD-ROM The Issue of Abortion in America (Rountledge, 1998) Dr. Cavalier was Director of CMU's Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy from 2005-2007. He currently directs the Center's Digital Media Lab which houses Project PICOLA (Public Informed Citizen Online Assembly), and is also co-Director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy. Co-Editor of Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy (St. Martin's/Macmillan, England, 1990), Editor of The Impact of the Internet on Our Moral Lives (SUNY, 2003) and other works in ethics as well as articles in educational computing, Dr. Cavalier is internationally recognized for his work in education and interactive multimedia. He was President of the "International Association for Computing and Philosophy" (2001 - 2004) and Chair of the APA Committee on Philosophy and Computers (2000-2003). Dr. Cavalier has given numerous addresses and...
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...major new book by a prominent academic and an active politician. It ranges widely across the disciplines of theology, political theory and philosophy and poses acute questions about the basic moral foundations of liberal societies. Lord Plant focuses on the role that religious belief can and ought to play in argument about public policy in a pluralistic society. He examines the potential political implications of Christian belief and the ways in which it may be deployed in political debate. The book is a contribution to the modern debate about the moral pluralism of western liberal societies, discussing the place of religious belief in the formation of policy and asking what sorts of issues in modern society might be the legitimate objects of a Christian social and political concern. Raymond Plant has written an important study of the relationship between religion and politics which will be of value to students, academics, politicians, church professionals, policy makers and all concerned with the moral fabric of contemporary life. r ay m on d pl an t is Professor of European Political Thought at the University of Southampton and a Member of the House of Lords. He was a Home affairs spokesperson for the Labour Party from 1992 to 1996, and Master of St Catherine's College, Oxford, from 1994 to 2000. Lord Plant's main publications are Social and Moral Theory in Casework (1970), Community and Ideology: An Essay in Applied Moral Philosophy (1974), Hegel (1974), Political Philosophy and...
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