1) Socrates believes that morality is independent of religion. He says that things cannot be holy only for the reason that the gods love them. Not necessarily everything that gods love has to be holy. And there is a conflict between the idea that gods love things because they are holy and things are holy because gods love them. Socrates’ opinion is that things cannot be considered holy because one believes that gods love holy things and the holiness of all things need to be judged on that. He even ends with conversation by saying that Euthypro has failed to explain what holiness through the means of religion.
I personally believe that big part of morality can be based on certain aspects of religion, but not all of it. There is more than one religion, and the ideas of morality in them can be conflicting, leaving people with clashing ideas on what is moral and what is not. Certain things can be judged that way, but the entire essence of morality cannot be based on religion. Morality is a much more complex idea, that is based by society’s and one’s personal beliefs.
2) Holding that ethics depend on religion has implications that people would blindly believe in them and never question how ethical certain actions are. That would make them not think or judge certain aspects of ethics and think of them as guidelines that cannot be questioned. If God would make rape and murder ethical, it still wouldn’t matter, because ethics and religion are completely different things, so that still would not make such actions ethically or morally correct. And since morality seems to be independent of religion, even though some of it aspects can be used and judge by with religion, if God didn’t exist then morality would still be there. Even though for some it would be challenging to adjust, since many
Mattessich 2/5/15 Paper #1 Are we moral because we believe in a religion, or do we have to believe in a religion to have morality? Louis Paul Pojman was a pronounced American philosopher and professor who believed that if there is no God to believe in, then there is no morality or purpose to life. Pojman believes that it is religion that gives every individual’s life a meaning to it. Pojman wrote a very interesting essay called “Religion Gives Meaning to Life.” In this essay Pojman discusses and debates…
lingers around the church is something that is completely indescribable. Every person is there seeking the same thing, to deepen their relationship with God, and the staff of Life Church does everything they are able to make sure that will happen. Religion and my faith has always been a huge part of my life. Being raised by a single mother who has the strongest faith and best values, I have always hoped the same for myself. I grew up not knowing anything about my father, except for a name. My mom always…
wrong in virtue of the fact that God prohibits it. Strong advocates of the Divine Command Theory believe that apart from God’s will there is no “true” morality. Socrates made a major argument against the divine command theory, in what we can just easily call, the “Euthyphro dilemma”. Socrates asked the simple question of whether “divine morality” is right because God says so, or does God see merit in those actions as being right. For example, if God had commanded the murder of innocent children…
What is the relationship between religion and morality? It is in my opinion that religion is dependant on morality and not the other way around. Through this, it can be stated that morality reinforces the development and evolution of religion. In this essay, I shall show that this is the case drawing from theories proposed by Plato, Kant and Berg. According to Jonathan Berg, “…a way to construe ethics as depending on religion would be on the basis of a ‘Divine Command Theory’ of ethics, identifying…
Humans 18 November 2011 Religion has been dubbed one of the three topics to never bring up at a party, along with politics and sex. However, throughout time religion has been one of the most discussed and argued over topics. One of the biggest arguments regarding religion is how it affects morality. From the people who live by their religion to those who live against everything a religion stands for, there are countless opinions on religion’s role in shaping morality. However, most opinions boil…
concept of morality can and does exist within cultures that have only one god, as well as cultures that have multiple gods. Without morality, the world would be a place of extreme chaos and pandemonium. However, the foundation for morality within polytheistic religions is quite contradictory to the foundation for morality with monotheistic religions. Morality within polytheism is somewhat inconsistent and relative; whereas in monotheism, morality becomes more consistent and absolute. Morality exists…
Phil 1030-001 Friedrich Nietzsche’s Master Morality In 1844, to a Lutheran pastor in Rӧcken, Saxony, a son named Friedrich Nietzsche was born. After his father’s death in 1849, he was raised by his female relatives. He began studying theology to take after his father, but abandoned that path and specialized in philology at Bonn and Leipzig. In 1887 he wrote Zur Geneologie der Moral (On the Genealogy of Morals) where he bitterly decried the slave morality enforced by social sanctions and religious…
population gain their sense of morality from their religion. The tendency for religious leaders to be perceived as speakers for morality is something that is seen worldwide. Anywhere there is religion, there are religious leaders; and although there isn't a biological difference between the leaders and followers of any religion that would make the leaders superior, they are still often "regarded as having special moral insight" (Rachels, 2003). In chapter 4 of The Elements of Morality (4th ed), James Rachels…
Andrew Coe September 18, 2011 Ethics v. Morality The terms “ethics” and “morality” have been topics of great debate for many centuries. Both terms are becoming ever more commonplace in casual conversation, and both are used interchangeably without much hesitation. Many scholars, however, would argue that the two terms have distinct differences – that they do not mean the same thing – and that they should be used more prudently. Authors William H. Shaw (San Jose State University) and William K. Frankena…
Tolerance Since the beginning of religion, those who oppose it have had to tolerate its reign for their own safety. Many Theocracies, which are countries have laws that allow for the punishment of non-believers and various other forms of 'false worship' “Pakistan's blasphemy laws which, among other things, prescribe the death penalty for insulting Islam” (The Deep Struggle for Pakistan, 2010). In modern day America, many Americans are not comfortable in the idea of someone being atheists, just…