Fundamentals of Ethics (Morality) Christian
Making Decisions
We all take dozens of daily decisions. We make choices, we chose, we decided and determined what to do with our individual life, business life, the church, the life of our family ... Finally, the life of others.
Nobody does it in a vacuum. It was once thought that it was possible to rule on a particular subject in an entirely objective, that is, free from any preconceptions or pre-convictions. Today, it is known that even in the so-called "hard sciences" can do research without being influenced by who we are, we believe, desire, and aim to live.
The decisions we make are invariably influenced by the horizon of our own individual and social world. When we elect a particular solution over another, we do it based on a standard, a set of values that we believe is right or wrong. That is what we call ethics.
Our word "ethics" comes from the Greek eqikh, which means a habit, custom or rite. Over time, began to refer to any set of ideal principles of human conduct, the standards to be set up relations between the various members of a society.
Ethics is the set of values or standard by which a person understands what is right or wrong and make decisions.
Ethical Alternatives
Each of us has an ethics. Each one of us, no matter how it is influenced by relativism and pluralism of our day, has a value system which they query (not always, judging by the inconsistency of our decisions ...!) in the process of making choices. Are not always aware of the values that make up this system, but they are there, decisively influencing our choices.
The scholars have generally grouped the ethical alternatives in accordance with its fundamental guiding principle. The main ones are: humanities, natural and religious.
Humanistic Ethics
The so-called humanistic ethics are those that take the human being as the measure of all things, following the well-known axiom of the ancient sophist philosopher Protagoras (485-410 BC). In other words, are those that promote ethical choices and decisions facing the man as the highest value.
Hedonism
A form of humanistic ethics is hedonism. This system teaches that the truth is that which is pleasing. The word "hedonism" comes from the Greek | hdonh, "pleasure". As a philosophical movement, had its origin in the teachings of Epicurus and his disciples, whose famous maxim was "eat and drink for tomorrow we die." Epicureanism was a system of ethics taught that, in general, than to have a full life and meaning, each individual should seek above all that gave him pleasure or happiness. The radical hedonistic reached the point of saying that it was useless trying to guess what gives pleasure to others.
As a consequence of their ethics, hedonistic abstained from political and public life, preferred to stay single, blaming marriage and family as obstacles to the greater good, which is the individual pleasure. Some even advocate suicide, because the natural death was painful.
As a philosophical movement, hedonism now, but certainly its central tenet remains today. We are all hedonistic by nature. We are often motivated our decisions in the pursuit of secret pleasure. The ethics of the natural man is hedonism. Instinctively, he makes decisions and make choices based on the principle driver to seek that which will give you more pleasure and happiness. The exacerbated individualism and materialism are modern current forms of hedonism.
Although Christianity recognizes the legitimacy of the pursuit of pleasure and happiness of the individual, considers the ethical hedonist essentially selfish, because it puts such things as the greatest fundamental principle of human existence.
Utilitarianism
Another example of humanistic ethics is utilitarianism, ethical system that has the maximum value which considers the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In other words, "the truth is what is useful. The decisions are judged not in terms of motivation, or moral principles involved, but the results they produce. If a choice produces happiness to people, then it is correct. The main proponents of utilitarian ethics were the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
;
The utilitarian ethics may seem to be aligned with Christian teaching than seeking the good of people. She gets to teach that each individual must sacrifice his pleasure for the community (as opposed to hedonism). However, it is dangerously relativistic: who will determine what is the greater good? The Nazis killing millions of Jews in the name of the good of humanity. Before them, it was the popular adage "the end justifies the means." The danger of utilitarianism is that it turns the ethics simply a pragmatic cold and impersonal decisions are ones that produce solutions, results and numbers.
People influenced by utilitarianism choose solutions simply because they work, without asking whether they are correct or not. Utilitarian emphasize the method rather than content. They want to know "how" and not "why?".
Perhaps a good modern example is the sex scandal Clinton / Lewinski. In a society marked by very utilitarian, such as the U.S., it is understandable that people are divided on the impeachment of President Clinton because his administration has produced excellent financial results for the country.
Existentialism
We can still mention existentialism, as an example of humanistic ethics. Concluded in different ways by thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, existentialism is basically pessimistic. Existentialists are skeptical of a rosy future or good for humanity, they are also relativists, believing that right and wrong are relative to the individual's perspective and there are no moral or spiritual absolutes. For them, it is certain to experience, is to act - wrong is a vegetable, is idle.
Sartre, one of the most famous existentialist, said: "The world is absurd and ridiculous. We try to authenticate by an act of will in any direction." People influenced by existentialism try to live life with all its intensity, and take decisions that lead to this aim. Aldous Huxley, for example, defended the use of drugs, since they produced above experiences of ordinary perception. Similarly, one can defend homosexuality and adultery.
Existentialism is the dominant system of ethics in our modern society. His influence is perceived everywhere. Modern society tends to validate ethical actions taken based on individual experience. For example, a man who is not happy in his marriage and has an affair with another woman with whom he feels good, usually receive the understanding and tolerance in society.
Naturalistic Ethics
.
This name is usually given to the ethical system which is based on the process and the laws of nature. The truth is the natural - nature gives us the pattern to be followed. The nature, a first observation, teaches that only the fittest survive and the weak, sick, old and frail tend to fall and disappear as nature evolves. Soon, all contribute to the selection of the fittest and survival of the fittest, is right and good, and all that more difficult is wrong and evil.
Incredible as it may seem, this ethic has defenders as Thrasymachus (sophist, a contemporary of Socrates), Machiavelli and the Marquis de Sade. Nowadays, Nietzsche and some biological determinists, such as Herbert Spencer and Julian Huxley.
The naturalistic ethics has some assumptions about man and nature based on the theory of evolution: (1) the nature and man are products of evolution, (2) natural selection is good and right. Nietzsche saw as the severity of real virtues, selfishness and aggression; vices would love, humility and piety.
You can see the influence of naturalistic ethics clearly in modern society. The tendency to legitimize the elimination of less fit can be seen in attempts to legalize abortion and euthanasia in all circumstances. The Nazis eliminated mentally ill and sterilizing the "unfit" biologically. Sade advocated the exploitation of the weak (women in particular). Nazis defended the concept of white Germanic race as a dominatrix, thereby justifying the elimination of Jews and other groups. Even today we find graffiti made by neo-Nazis on the walls of Sao Paulo against blacks, and poor northeast. Consciously or not, people like naturalistic follow the ethics of survival of the fittest and the destruction of the weakest.
Christians believe that an ethics based on nature can never be legitimate, since the nature and man are now radically distorted as a result of the expulsion of mankind from their Creator. The nature as we have today is far from the original state in which it was created. It can serve as a value system for the conduct of men.
Religious Ethics
.
Are those value systems that seek the deity (God or gods) the main reason for their actions and decisions. These systems there is an inseparable relationship between ethics and religion. The judge more ethical issues is that the deity says about it. Of course, the concept of God that each system maintains that, ultimately decisively influence the code of ethics and conduct to be followed.
Ethical non-Christian religious
In the ancient Greek gods were designed (especially the works of Homer) as similar to men with passions and desires and not many human and moral standards (although this view has received criticism from many major philosophers of the time). Besides mastering the forces of nature, which made the gods other than those men is that the latter were fatal. No wonder that the classical Greek religion did not impose demands and constraints on behavior of its adherents, but through ascetic groups who followed strict diets seeking religious purification.
The Hindu concept of not killing the cows comes from a belief in the Vedic period that links them to some Hindu deities, especially Krishna. The cult of this god has elements pastoral and rural areas.
What we think about God will certainly influence our internal system of values and decision-making that we face every day. This also applies to atheists and agnostics. Its system of values already assumes that God does not exist. And this assumption will inevitably influence their decisions and their value system.
It is very common in modern society the concept that God (or gods?) Is a kind of benevolent deity that includes patience and tolerance with human affairs without much interference, except to help the needy, especially his protégés and devotees. This conception of God does not require more than just a vague code of ethics, usually based on what each one thinks is right or wrong on this God.
Christian Ethics
Christian ethics is the system of moral values associated with historic Christianity and withdrawing his support of theological and philosophical precepts.
Like the others already mentioned above ethics, Christian ethics operates from several assumptions and concepts that he believes are revealed in the Scriptures by the one true God. These are:
1. The existence of one true God, creator of heaven and earth. Christian ethics by the notion that the God revealed in Scripture is the only true God and that as the creator of the world and humanity, must be recognized and believed as such and their will respected and obeyed.
2. Humanity is in a fallen state, other than that it was created. Christian ethics takes into account the systematization and synthesis of practical and moral duties of individuals, that they are unable by themselves to recognize the will of God, much less obey it. This is due to the fact that humanity now lives in a state of alienation from God, caused initially by the disobedience of the first couple. Christian ethics has no utopian illusions about the "inherent goodness" of each person or moral intuition positive for each to decide for itself what is right and wrong. Blinded by sin, humanity walks without moral compass, each doing what right in his own eyes. The standards proposed by the Christian ethics require the spiritual regeneration of man and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, so that it will conduct itself ethically before the Creator.
3. The man is not morally neutral, but inclined to make decisions contrary to God, to others. This assumption is an inevitable implication of the above. People in their natural state in which they are (in contrast to the state of regeneration) are intuitively driven, above all, by greed and selfishness, following quite naturally (and unconsciously) value systems described above as humanistic or naturalistic. By themselves, the people are unable to follow even the standards they choose for themselves, violating the very principles on a daily basis of conduct that they consider correct.
4. God revealed himself to humanity. This assumption is fundamental to Christian ethics, it is this revelation that she takes his concepts about the world of humanity and especially of what is right and what is wrong. Christian ethics recognizes that God reveals himself as Creator through his image in us. Each person brings, as a creature of God, that image remains, now distorted by selfishness and desire for autonomy and independence from God. The consciousness of people, although often ignored and suppressed, sometimes reflected flashes of divine values. God also reveals himself through the created things. The world around us is a living testimony of the divinity, power and wisdom of God, much more than the result of millions of years of blind evolution. However it is through his special revelation in Scripture that God lets us know about yourself, ourselves (because it is our Creator), the world around us, their plans for us and how we should behave in the world have created.
Thus, while Christian ethics to use the common sense to the people, depends primarily on the Scriptures in the preparation of moral and spiritual standards that should govern our conduct in this world. She believes that the Bible has all the knowledge we need to serve God in a comfortable way and to live happy and satisfied in the present world. While not a complete revelation of God and the heavenly kingdom, Scripture, however, simply tells us what about this. Of course we will not find in Scripture direct statements about typical modern problems such as euthanasia, AIDS, human cloning or issues related to bioethics. However, here we find the theoretical principles that govern different areas of human life. It is the interaction with these principles and problems of each generation, that Christian ethics is updated and contextualizes, without ever leaving the permanent and transcendent values revealed in the Scriptures.
It is precisely based on the revelation that the Creator has given us that Christian ethics extends to all dimensions of reality. She decides on individual issues, religious, social, political, ecological and economic. Since God has authority over all aspects of human existence, their demands reach us where we find ourselves - including and especially in the workplace, where we exercise the divine mandate to explore the created world and win our bread.
It is in the Scriptures, therefore, we find the moral standards revealed by God. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus are the best known examples. However, more than just a moral rule book, the Bible is for Christians the revelation of what God did to that man might come to know him, love him and obey him cheerfully. The message of Scripture is fundamentally about reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Christian ethics is based on work done in Christ and is an expression of gratitude, much more than an effort to deserve the divine blessings.
Christian ethics, in short, is the set of moral values and total based solely on Scripture, by which man must adjust his conduct in this world, before God, neighbor and self. There is a set of rules by which men can come to God - but it's the standard of conduct by which to please God who has redeemed it. Because it is based on divine revelation, believes in moral absolutes, which are the will of God to all men of all cultures and all times.
We all take dozens of daily decisions. We make choices, we chose, we decided and determined what to do with our individual life, business life, the church, the life of our family ... Finally, the life of others.
Nobody does it in a vacuum. It was once thought that it was possible to rule on a particular subject in an entirely objective, that is, free from any preconceptions or pre-convictions. Today, it is known that even in the so-called "hard sciences" can do research without being influenced by who we are, we believe, desire, and aim to live.
The decisions we make are invariably influenced by the horizon of our own individual and social world. When we elect a particular solution over another, we do it based on a standard, a set of values that we believe is right or wrong. That is what we call ethics.
Our word "ethics" comes from the Greek eqikh, which means a habit, custom or rite. Over time, began to refer to any set of ideal principles of human conduct, the standards to be set up relations between the various members of a society.
Ethics is the set of values or standard by which a person understands what is right or wrong and make decisions.
Ethical Alternatives
Each of us has an ethics. Each one of us, no matter how it is influenced by relativism and pluralism of our day, has a value system which they query (not always, judging by the inconsistency of our decisions ...!) in the process of making choices. Are not always aware of the values that make up this system, but they are there, decisively influencing our choices.
The scholars have generally grouped the ethical alternatives in accordance with its fundamental guiding principle. The main ones are: humanities, natural and religious.
Humanistic Ethics
The so-called humanistic ethics are those that take the human being as the measure of all things, following the well-known axiom of the ancient sophist philosopher Protagoras (485-410 BC). In other words, are those that promote ethical choices and decisions facing the man as the highest value.
Hedonism
A form of humanistic ethics is hedonism. This system teaches that the truth is that which is pleasing. The word "hedonism" comes from the Greek | hdonh, "pleasure". As a philosophical movement, had its origin in the teachings of Epicurus and his disciples, whose famous maxim was "eat and drink for tomorrow we die." Epicureanism was a system of ethics taught that, in general, than to have a full life and meaning, each individual should seek above all that gave him pleasure or happiness. The radical hedonistic reached the point of saying that it was useless trying to guess what gives pleasure to others.
As a consequence of their ethics, hedonistic abstained from political and public life, preferred to stay single, blaming marriage and family as obstacles to the greater good, which is the individual pleasure. Some even advocate suicide, because the natural death was painful.
As a philosophical movement, hedonism now, but certainly its central tenet remains today. We are all hedonistic by nature. We are often motivated our decisions in the pursuit of secret pleasure. The ethics of the natural man is hedonism. Instinctively, he makes decisions and make choices based on the principle driver to seek that which will give you more pleasure and happiness. The exacerbated individualism and materialism are modern current forms of hedonism.
Although Christianity recognizes the legitimacy of the pursuit of pleasure and happiness of the individual, considers the ethical hedonist essentially selfish, because it puts such things as the greatest fundamental principle of human existence.
Utilitarianism
Another example of humanistic ethics is utilitarianism, ethical system that has the maximum value which considers the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In other words, "the truth is what is useful. The decisions are judged not in terms of motivation, or moral principles involved, but the results they produce. If a choice produces happiness to people, then it is correct. The main proponents of utilitarian ethics were the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
;
The utilitarian ethics may seem to be aligned with Christian teaching than seeking the good of people. She gets to teach that each individual must sacrifice his pleasure for the community (as opposed to hedonism). However, it is dangerously relativistic: who will determine what is the greater good? The Nazis killing millions of Jews in the name of the good of humanity. Before them, it was the popular adage "the end justifies the means." The danger of utilitarianism is that it turns the ethics simply a pragmatic cold and impersonal decisions are ones that produce solutions, results and numbers.
People influenced by utilitarianism choose solutions simply because they work, without asking whether they are correct or not. Utilitarian emphasize the method rather than content. They want to know "how" and not "why?".
Perhaps a good modern example is the sex scandal Clinton / Lewinski. In a society marked by very utilitarian, such as the U.S., it is understandable that people are divided on the impeachment of President Clinton because his administration has produced excellent financial results for the country.
Existentialism
We can still mention existentialism, as an example of humanistic ethics. Concluded in different ways by thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, existentialism is basically pessimistic. Existentialists are skeptical of a rosy future or good for humanity, they are also relativists, believing that right and wrong are relative to the individual's perspective and there are no moral or spiritual absolutes. For them, it is certain to experience, is to act - wrong is a vegetable, is idle.
Sartre, one of the most famous existentialist, said: "The world is absurd and ridiculous. We try to authenticate by an act of will in any direction." People influenced by existentialism try to live life with all its intensity, and take decisions that lead to this aim. Aldous Huxley, for example, defended the use of drugs, since they produced above experiences of ordinary perception. Similarly, one can defend homosexuality and adultery.
Existentialism is the dominant system of ethics in our modern society. His influence is perceived everywhere. Modern society tends to validate ethical actions taken based on individual experience. For example, a man who is not happy in his marriage and has an affair with another woman with whom he feels good, usually receive the understanding and tolerance in society.
Naturalistic Ethics
.
This name is usually given to the ethical system which is based on the process and the laws of nature. The truth is the natural - nature gives us the pattern to be followed. The nature, a first observation, teaches that only the fittest survive and the weak, sick, old and frail tend to fall and disappear as nature evolves. Soon, all contribute to the selection of the fittest and survival of the fittest, is right and good, and all that more difficult is wrong and evil.
Incredible as it may seem, this ethic has defenders as Thrasymachus (sophist, a contemporary of Socrates), Machiavelli and the Marquis de Sade. Nowadays, Nietzsche and some biological determinists, such as Herbert Spencer and Julian Huxley.
The naturalistic ethics has some assumptions about man and nature based on the theory of evolution: (1) the nature and man are products of evolution, (2) natural selection is good and right. Nietzsche saw as the severity of real virtues, selfishness and aggression; vices would love, humility and piety.
You can see the influence of naturalistic ethics clearly in modern society. The tendency to legitimize the elimination of less fit can be seen in attempts to legalize abortion and euthanasia in all circumstances. The Nazis eliminated mentally ill and sterilizing the "unfit" biologically. Sade advocated the exploitation of the weak (women in particular). Nazis defended the concept of white Germanic race as a dominatrix, thereby justifying the elimination of Jews and other groups. Even today we find graffiti made by neo-Nazis on the walls of Sao Paulo against blacks, and poor northeast. Consciously or not, people like naturalistic follow the ethics of survival of the fittest and the destruction of the weakest.
Christians believe that an ethics based on nature can never be legitimate, since the nature and man are now radically distorted as a result of the expulsion of mankind from their Creator. The nature as we have today is far from the original state in which it was created. It can serve as a value system for the conduct of men.
Religious Ethics
.
Are those value systems that seek the deity (God or gods) the main reason for their actions and decisions. These systems there is an inseparable relationship between ethics and religion. The judge more ethical issues is that the deity says about it. Of course, the concept of God that each system maintains that, ultimately decisively influence the code of ethics and conduct to be followed.
Ethical non-Christian religious
In the ancient Greek gods were designed (especially the works of Homer) as similar to men with passions and desires and not many human and moral standards (although this view has received criticism from many major philosophers of the time). Besides mastering the forces of nature, which made the gods other than those men is that the latter were fatal. No wonder that the classical Greek religion did not impose demands and constraints on behavior of its adherents, but through ascetic groups who followed strict diets seeking religious purification.
The Hindu concept of not killing the cows comes from a belief in the Vedic period that links them to some Hindu deities, especially Krishna. The cult of this god has elements pastoral and rural areas.
What we think about God will certainly influence our internal system of values and decision-making that we face every day. This also applies to atheists and agnostics. Its system of values already assumes that God does not exist. And this assumption will inevitably influence their decisions and their value system.
It is very common in modern society the concept that God (or gods?) Is a kind of benevolent deity that includes patience and tolerance with human affairs without much interference, except to help the needy, especially his protégés and devotees. This conception of God does not require more than just a vague code of ethics, usually based on what each one thinks is right or wrong on this God.
Christian Ethics
Christian ethics is the system of moral values associated with historic Christianity and withdrawing his support of theological and philosophical precepts.
Like the others already mentioned above ethics, Christian ethics operates from several assumptions and concepts that he believes are revealed in the Scriptures by the one true God. These are:
1. The existence of one true God, creator of heaven and earth. Christian ethics by the notion that the God revealed in Scripture is the only true God and that as the creator of the world and humanity, must be recognized and believed as such and their will respected and obeyed.
2. Humanity is in a fallen state, other than that it was created. Christian ethics takes into account the systematization and synthesis of practical and moral duties of individuals, that they are unable by themselves to recognize the will of God, much less obey it. This is due to the fact that humanity now lives in a state of alienation from God, caused initially by the disobedience of the first couple. Christian ethics has no utopian illusions about the "inherent goodness" of each person or moral intuition positive for each to decide for itself what is right and wrong. Blinded by sin, humanity walks without moral compass, each doing what right in his own eyes. The standards proposed by the Christian ethics require the spiritual regeneration of man and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, so that it will conduct itself ethically before the Creator.
3. The man is not morally neutral, but inclined to make decisions contrary to God, to others. This assumption is an inevitable implication of the above. People in their natural state in which they are (in contrast to the state of regeneration) are intuitively driven, above all, by greed and selfishness, following quite naturally (and unconsciously) value systems described above as humanistic or naturalistic. By themselves, the people are unable to follow even the standards they choose for themselves, violating the very principles on a daily basis of conduct that they consider correct.
4. God revealed himself to humanity. This assumption is fundamental to Christian ethics, it is this revelation that she takes his concepts about the world of humanity and especially of what is right and what is wrong. Christian ethics recognizes that God reveals himself as Creator through his image in us. Each person brings, as a creature of God, that image remains, now distorted by selfishness and desire for autonomy and independence from God. The consciousness of people, although often ignored and suppressed, sometimes reflected flashes of divine values. God also reveals himself through the created things. The world around us is a living testimony of the divinity, power and wisdom of God, much more than the result of millions of years of blind evolution. However it is through his special revelation in Scripture that God lets us know about yourself, ourselves (because it is our Creator), the world around us, their plans for us and how we should behave in the world have created.
Thus, while Christian ethics to use the common sense to the people, depends primarily on the Scriptures in the preparation of moral and spiritual standards that should govern our conduct in this world. She believes that the Bible has all the knowledge we need to serve God in a comfortable way and to live happy and satisfied in the present world. While not a complete revelation of God and the heavenly kingdom, Scripture, however, simply tells us what about this. Of course we will not find in Scripture direct statements about typical modern problems such as euthanasia, AIDS, human cloning or issues related to bioethics. However, here we find the theoretical principles that govern different areas of human life. It is the interaction with these principles and problems of each generation, that Christian ethics is updated and contextualizes, without ever leaving the permanent and transcendent values revealed in the Scriptures.
It is precisely based on the revelation that the Creator has given us that Christian ethics extends to all dimensions of reality. She decides on individual issues, religious, social, political, ecological and economic. Since God has authority over all aspects of human existence, their demands reach us where we find ourselves - including and especially in the workplace, where we exercise the divine mandate to explore the created world and win our bread.
It is in the Scriptures, therefore, we find the moral standards revealed by God. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus are the best known examples. However, more than just a moral rule book, the Bible is for Christians the revelation of what God did to that man might come to know him, love him and obey him cheerfully. The message of Scripture is fundamentally about reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Christian ethics is based on work done in Christ and is an expression of gratitude, much more than an effort to deserve the divine blessings.
Christian ethics, in short, is the set of moral values and total based solely on Scripture, by which man must adjust his conduct in this world, before God, neighbor and self. There is a set of rules by which men can come to God - but it's the standard of conduct by which to please God who has redeemed it. Because it is based on divine revelation, believes in moral absolutes, which are the will of God to all men of all cultures and all times.
Um comentário:
Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
- David
Postar um comentário