Bad consequences from a good will?

Bad consequences from a good will? The innermost theory of Kant's morality, is not the consequences but the motive behind the action, which determines if the action itself is one of moral worth. According to Kant, the only will that is good without qualification is a good will. Kant uses the term "good will"i throughout his explanation of moral motive and to indicate that a will possesses a motive of righteous content, and does a dutiful act, because it is dutiful. To act out of a good will is to perform an action because it is right to do the action, and for no other reason. Kant identifies "good will" with practical reason in which all moral laws apply, at their most fundamental level, to all rational agents. Kant notes that many of the things we normally think of as good, such as happiness, courage, and intelligence, are all qualified goods, because their goodness depends upon their being possessed by someone with a good will. Likewise, someone who is courageous or intelligent, but who has an evil will, is all the more dangerous because of such a motive. A good will, on the other hand, remains good even when possessed by an unhappy person, or by a person lacking in talent and intelligences. This is distinguished from a merely pleasurable consequence, which exerts its influence on the "good will" by means of sensations and other subjective factors and perhaps holds factual

  • Word count: 832
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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In this essay I will talk about this question Do we need God to have morals? and what my opinion is about it and other religious views on this is. I will look at Christians, Buddhists, Atheists and Agnostics.

God and Morality In this essay i will talk about this question 'Do we need God to have morals?' and what my opinion is about it and other religious views on this is. I will look at Christians, Buddhists, Atheists and Agnostics. I think that believing in god does give you morals although you everyone has a sense of right and wrong because of your conscience. I believe in god so that is probably why i think that we need god to have morals as you pray to god for guidance and sometimes you get that guidance sometimes you don't; some people think that god maybe sends them a sign to do something or they think they there question is answered in the way they do things. Though i think that if more people believed in god then in the back of your head you would think that if you do something wrong then you might get punished for it, so you use god as an excuse to do good. You could have been good anyway and not even have a religion but you start believing in god and that makes an increase on your good deeds and maybe makes you even better in what you do though i think it just depends on the person. Although some people do not agree with me as some religious people think that if someone else does something bad that they should do bad things to those people as they believe the ones who did bad in the first place should be punished. I think this depends on how they were bought up to

  • Word count: 1226
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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Christian Aid - A Charity Helping Poverty

Christian Aid In order for organisation to be successful and to achieve their aims to its best a lot of money is needed. This money comes from many fund raisings, such as the Christian aid week. Christian aid week has been known as a nation wide charity event that takes place in May each year, since 1957. The towns are divided up the leader churches, and each house in the selected areas is presented with a Christian aid charity envelope for a week and by the end of the week they are collected back in. These envelopes contain a short story and information leaflet explaining what and where that particular fund is going to be used on. Fund raisings from the year 2000 to 2001 had 22% out £53,143,000 was raised by the Christian aid week. The rest of the 78% was raised up by other incomes such as the general donations (which also provided 22%); legacies (12%), government and other grants(27%), emergency appeals(11%), denominational appeals(2%), and remaining 4% come from other incomes. Many of the extra fund raising events are taken place throughout the year by churches and individuals supporting events like sponsor walks and jumble sales etc. Furthermore, Christian aid has created their own website for people to give donation online, also providing people with latest disaster news, charity events and other information. Christian aid supplies help in two major ways,

  • Word count: 2878
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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What is the relationship between religion and morality?

What is the relationship between religion and morality? Humanists and atheists see no connection between religion and ethics, arguing that it is possible to be ethical without being religious. However, others contend that ethics and religion are inseparable, a common view held by Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews. An atheist would hold the view that morals are independent of God (autonomy.) Humanists hold strong ethical beliefs, however, deny the existence of a supernatural being. A key question here is, do morals come from God? If not, where do they come from? Do religious people stand a better chance of being moral than non- religious people? Plato asked the key question 'is x good because God commands it or does God command it because x is good? The view that moral rules are true by virtue of being commanded by God is called the divine command theory. 'The good consists in always doing what God wills at any particular moment.' Emil Brunner. The philosopher Gottfried Leibniz writes: '... in saying that things are not good by any rules of goodness, but merely the will of God, it seems to me that one destroys, without realizing it, all the love of God and all his glory. For why praise him for what he has done if he could be equally praiseworthy in doing exactly the contrary.' 'To a Christian, to do one's duty is to do the will of God.' D. Z. Phillips. If we are

  • Word count: 2201
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"The greatest happiness for the greatest number" Using ToK thinking and terms, how far is the good basis for an ethical system?

Name: Jonathan Tam Class: 13A International Baccalaureate - Theory of Knowledge Yew Chung International School "The greatest happiness for the greatest number" Using ToK thinking and terms, how far is the good basis for an ethical system? This statement mainly tackles with the problems arise by ethics. Theory of Knowledge tells us to investigate a problem in four ways: logic, perception, emotion and language. Language could be one of the most important areas of debate. First of all, how to we define "happiness"? Do we talk about instantaneous happiness, or long term happiness? An instantaneous happiness might lead to a long term regret, so will this still be considered as "happiness"? If long term sadness outweighs instantaneous happiness, how do we place such happiness in terms of importance? We usually define happiness as "the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended enjoyment"1 and it has no time limit. So in both cases we can still define it as happiness. Perception, in this case, is nothing more than the means for us to sense pleasure thus determine our source of happiness. For example, we need our eyes to look at the monitor and ears to listen to background music in order to make us feel enjoyable when we are playing Play Station. Although seemingly unimportant in making decisions, our perception is the only way for us to tell if

  • Word count: 1553
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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What are the main features of Utilitarianism as an ethical theory? Examine and consider criticisms that have been made against Utilitarianism.

Religious Studies - Ethics 'Evaluating Utilitarianism' What are the main features of Utilitarianism as an ethical theory? (10 marks) Examine and consider criticisms that have been made against Utilitarianism. (10 marks) Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that pivots around the belief that morality should be judged by consequence and the way in which an action can be deemed moral or immoral, depends upon the number to which it brings the greatest happiness. A decision can be defined as ethically correct under the theory of Utilitarianism if the moral choice provides the 'greatest good for the greatest number of people', proving that at the core of Utilitarianism are the ideals of pleasure and consequence. Although Utilitarianism provides a useful, simplistic way for making moral decisions, it has notable faults, which limit its capability as an ethical strategy. Ethical theories can be classified into two groups; these being deontological theories and teleological theories. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory, so for a Utilitarian, actions are judged on the results that they accomplish. Morality is therefore centred on consequence rather than motives. Contrary to a deontological theory, which believes the action itself to be the most important rather than the outcome, Utilitarianism recognises that a course of action is considered good depending upon the outcome of

  • Word count: 2183
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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Should our moral beliefs be based on the utilitarian principle of securing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people?

-- Introduction -- Should our moral beliefs be based on the utilitarian principle of securing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people? In order to answer the question above, first of all it is necessary to clarify what utilitarian principle is. The utilitarian principle is one of many theories to answer the ethical nature of human being. Being of the most influential western philosophy thoughts, the utilitarian approach is defined as an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces, or if it tends to produce, the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people affected by the action. Otherwise the action is wrong. (Business Ethics 1999) Utilitarianism is a philosophy which has been around for centuries, and is still active and popular in the modern world. It is important not only in philosophy itself, but also in areas such as economics, politics, and even people's daily life. To some people, Utilitarianism seems to be the only ethical philosophy which is obviously correct. To others, it seems to be quite misconceived, even wrong. There have been many arguments raised about the utilitarian principle, amongst them, one of the most famous and influential theory, which is a contrasting thought to utilitarian, is argued by Kant, saying that the basic moral values should be applied universally, and the principle is that one will act in

  • Word count: 2094
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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Virtue Ethics Notes

VIRTUE ETHICS – INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS WHAT IS IT? * Virtue ethics is a type of moral theory that emphasises the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to approaches that emphasise duties (deontology) or consequences (consequentialism). * This is the main approach to ethics taken by ancient thinkers (e.g. Aristotle [384-322 BC] in his Nicomachean Ethics). * A virtue-ethical account of moral rightness: An act is right if and only if it is what a virtuous agent (i.e., a person with excellent character traits) would characteristically (i.e., acting in character) do in the circumstances. * What sort of person should I be in order to “live well” or “flourish” as the kind of being I am (to possess eudaimonia)? ARISTOTLE * Aristotle: what we need, in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in which such private and social goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honour and wealth fit together as a whole, and the ability to sustain an appropriate balance of such goods, by using reason. * We are essentially rational and social creatures. * Correct emotional, affective and motivational responses are a part of rationality. * Living well consists not in a static condition, but in doing something. It includes (but isn’t exhausted by) virtuous activity directed by reason. VICES AND VIRTUE: * The virtues: qualities of character that play a

  • Word count: 783
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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Do you agree with Christian and Utilitarians views on fertility treatment ?

Fertility Treatment Roman Catholics believe that AID, surrogacy and embryology are wrong, no matter what the circumstances may be. They believe this because AID introduces a third person into the marriage partnership and thus violates the sanctity of marriage principle and it a type of adultery. Although AIH does not violate this principle. Traditional and gestational surrogacy also violates the sanctity of marriage principle with adoption being a more natural process. IVY and embryology destroys embryos in the research process when 'spare' embryos are no longer required. This violates the sanctity of life principle suggesting life/personhood begins at conception and it technically murder (Divine Law - 6th Commandment). Furthermore, humans have a right to life (natural law) and should not be used as means to an end (deontological). If the IVF process does not destroy embryos, it is permitted. Therefore Catholics would disagree with embryology as it goes against the teachings about the sanctity of life. Using embryos for research is the misuse of human or potential human life. I disagree with the Catholic view because it should be up to the husband and wife into whether they decide to use AID or surrogacy. The Anglican Church would allow AID, AIH, surrogacy and embryology because they employ situation ethics to decide what action should be taken in a situation.

  • Word count: 496
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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Euthanasia should be a mater of choice.

Euthanasia should be a mater of choice Euthanasia is the act of assisting in the suicide of those who are unable to do those themselves, usually because they are impaired by the very disease that puts them in this situation. Not only are we condoning their choice to die by helping them are we committing an act of murder? In recent years, euthanasia has been a major controversial debate especially with the influx of medical techniques enabling us to keep persons alive in an increasingly impaired state. The first country to legalise euthanasia was the Netherlands in 1973 ever since terminal patients have been travelling to specialised clinics in order to meet their fate. From this point on the question of permitted death has rampaged through British newspapers, for example; An article entitled: "I was right to save Mongol children." Involving a doctor's decision to go against the parent's decision to let their baby die of natural causes whilst a safe cure was readily available. The baby was then put up for adoption. There are many issues with this event, since the baby isn't fully conscious yet the decision should therefore lie with the parents who believed that if the baby had this disease it was natures will to let it die. However it is a human life which had not consented for its demise and as such should be kept alive until it is ready to do so. Also in many studies

  • Word count: 918
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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