Moral Philosophy
Ethical Theories on Animals. The treatment of animals has historically evolved along with human beings' changing views of them. A number of theories trace this changing treatment to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic times when people exercised absolute dominion over animals (Sanders 2004). It was their religious belief that God gave man absolute dominion over animals and to do to them as he pleased or estimated. French philosopher Rene Descartes and other sadist thinkers reinforced this absolute dominion theory in that, since animals do not have the rational faculties of man, they could be treated as less than human and without mitigation. The non-malevolence theory eliminated mean motives but recognized that man could do what he pleased with animals. This was the position of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. German philosopher Immanuel Kant supported the anthropocentric theory, which reduced the dignity of man in proportion to the harm he inflicted on animals. This was followed by the humane beneficence theory, supported by Confucianism, which taught that man should be kind. A reverence for life soon became the most common viewpoint on animals, a position still held by the majority of people today. The permissive utilitarianism theory soon evolved and decided the case on the basis of cost against benefits of using animals to advance human interests. The restrictive utilitarian theory argued that suffering would outweigh those benefits and that, therefore, animals should be handled in a special way. This position was supported by Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer. Animals are a veterinarian's patients and Dr. Jacob Anteylyes listed his patients' moral rights, such as respect, or the right to sincere veterinary medical and nursing care; privacy rights to be kept separately in appropriate quarters; purposeful death, or protection against frivolous pain or gratuitous death for the purpose of entertainment or amusement; avoidable pain, or the right to prompt pain relief through the most effective possible means; and food and water or the right to these as appropriate for the animals' medical condition.
The Animal Welfare Act and the Public Health Service Policy listed a set of "rights" for laboratory animals (Sanders 2004). These included procedures that would avoid or reduce discomfort, distress and pain; sufficient proof that no valid alternatives to animal use were available as the best model; the use of analgesics, anesthetics or tranquilizers for painful or stressful procedures; the use of humane euthanasia on the animal in case of prolonged, chronic pain; appropriate and comfortable living conditions appropriate to their species; and people who would care for or work on animals knew how to do so humanely (Sanders).
Ethical Theories on War. A just war is one, which satisfies a set of moral or legal conditions or rules (Wikipedia 2005). These rules cover the justification of war or jus bellum and the conduct of war or jus in bello. Jus ad bellum required certain criteria for a war to be considered just: it could be waged only for a just cause, such as self-defense against an armed attack; only under a legitimate authority, usually the nation's specific institutions and personnel authorized by the constitution and laws to make war decisions. An example is the United Nation's Security Council, which make the international community's war decisions. The UN Charter provides that citizens cannot attack another country without the permission of the legal authority. A nation's state and legitimate authority, in turn, must consult with the citizens on their desired course of action. A war can also be waged only with the right intention, such as correcting a suffered wrong, but not if the gain is material. This right intention requires that the democratic accept the decisions of their courts and electorates on the correctness and legitimacy and the justice of their action. A war can also be waged only if it has a reasonable chance of victory, a...
However, our modern perspective and appreciation of objective moral concepts and standards allows us to extract the most beneficial core elements of various religions. At their root, the most fundamental religious principles are much more similar to modern secular moral beliefs than dissimilar and they do not conflict at all with mutual respect and consideration among private religious values and beliefs that may differ substantially.. Ultimately, it is the
Philosophy and Morality INSTRUCTIONS The exam consists essays. Please essays document. Please plagiarize. Be paraphrase verbatim language authors putting quotation marks. You document sources, -text citation ( footnotes) a reference page. Philosophy John Arthur's "Morality, Religion, and Conscience," A concern on the relationship between morality and religion is an ancient argument that continues in philosophy in the present times. The argument is mainly on whether morality emanates from an institution or religious background. Theologians
The question arising from this claim is whether evidence exists to prove that there exists an infinitely good, powerful, and wise God where morality naturally emerges. Humes argues that is hard to imagine that an all-good, powerful God exists in this world full of pain and misery. From these claims, one can argue that this insight, or God, has both evil and good, as is present in man if
Religions and Development It is popularly believed that countries, where religion has major influence in governance, tend to develop slower than those where religious beliefs are not a main influence or consideration. This statement uses the cases of poor and traditionally colonized Christian countries in Southeast Asia, like the Philippines; Russia; and the African countries to support the claim. The four major monotheistic religions in the world all tend to bar changes
Rule-breakers received swift punishment. Deviation from the norm was not tolerated by law or by social convention. Just because a moral standard helps create a stable society does not mean that moral standard is just, good, or right. Finally, the use of coercion itself denotes an unnatural moral standard. It takes relatively little coercion to ensure that most people don't murder or steal. Most children internalize the types of
The value of discipleship stresses the cohesion between the events of the past and the present, a fundamental tenant of psychotherapy. Discipleship also implies a mediation between God and his agents on earth, and the therapist always functions as a mediator between God's grace and earth. Community is also an important tenant of modern therapy, namely that no psychologically healthy human being is a spiritual and social island. Everyone
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