Introduction to Ethics: An Open Educational Resource, collected and edited by Noah Levin

Collected and edited by Noah Levin Table of Contents: UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY ETHICS: TECHNOLOGY, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND IMMIGRATION 1 The “Trolley Problem” and Self-Driving Cars: Your Car’s Moral Settings (Noah Levin) 2 What is Ethics and What Makes Something a Problem for Morality? (David Svolba) 3 Letter from the Birmingham City Jail (Martin Luther King, Jr) 4 A Defense of Affirmative Action (Noah Levin) 5 The Moral Issues of Immigration (B.M. Wooldridge) 6 The Ethics of our Digital Selves (Noah Levin) UNIT TWO: TORTURE, DEATH, AND THE “GREATER GOOD” 7 The Ethics of Torture (Martine Berenpas) 8 What Moral Obligations do we have (or not have) to Impoverished Peoples? (B.M. Wooldridge) 9 Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing (Nathan Nobis) 10 An Argument Against Capital Punishment (Noah Levin) 11 Common Arguments about Abortion (Nathan Nobis & Kristina Grob) 12 Better (Philosophical) Arguments about Abortion (Nathan Nobis & Kristina Grob) UNIT THREE: PERSONS, AUTONOMY, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND RIGHTS 13 Animal Rights (Eduardo Salazar) 14 John Rawls and the “Veil of Ignorance” (Ben Davies) 15 Environmental Ethics: Climate Change (Jonathan Spelman) 16 Rape, Date Rape, and the “Affirmative Consent” Law in California (Noah Levin) 17 The Ethics of Pornography: Deliberating on a Modern Harm (Eduardo Salazar) 18 The Social Contract (Thomas Hobbes) UNIT FOUR: HAPPINESS 19 Is Pleasure all that Matters? Thoughts on the “Experience Machine” (Prabhpal Singh) 20 Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill) 21 Utilitarianism: Pros and Cons (B.M. Wooldridge) 22 Existentialism, Genetic Engineering, and the Meaning of Life: The Fifths (Noah Levin) 23 The Solitude of the Self (Elizabeth Cady Stanton) 24 Game Theory, the Nash Equilibrium, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma (Douglas E. Hill) UNIT FIVE: RELIGION, LAW, AND ABSOLUTE MORALITY 25 The Myth of Gyges and The Crito (Plato) 26 God, Morality, and Religion (Kristin Seemuth Whaley) 27 The Categorical Imperative (Immanuel Kant) 28 The Virtues (Aristotle) 29 Beyond Good and Evil (Friedrich Nietzsche) 30 Other Moral Theories: Subjectivism, Relativism, Emotivism, Intuitionism, etc. (Jan F. Jacko

Dying to the self: self-renunciation in Wittgensteinian ethics and philosophy of religion

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Humanity\u27s Desire for Perfection: A Defense for Christian Theism

Amid the milieu of ethical theories and presuppositions about morals, a significant disconnect exists at the confluence of moral theories and human behavior. One may parse the issue as follows: If objective morals exist, humans are to live by them; however, no one lives a perfectly moral life. According to the moral standards identified by different theistic ethical theories (i.e., divine command theory, natural law, and virtue ethics), one may surmise that objective morals exist and that humans imperfectly live a moral life according to these standards. If it is the case that both secularists and theists recognize this issue, then explanations and solutions must be offered to alleviate the tension or else dispel the problem altogether. This study seeks to demonstrate that a person must receive some form of divine assistance from a perfectly moral being to live a moral life. Since God is both the source and the arbiter of morals, this study proposes that is it at least possible that He also provides the assistance needed for humans to live up to His expectations

Mathematics in literature : modernist interrelations in novels by Thomas Pynchon, Hermann Broch, and Robert Musil

The focus of this thesis is on four novels’ illustrations of the parallels and interrelations between the foundational crisis of mathematics and the political, linguistic, and epistemological crises around the turn to the twentieth century. While the latter crises with their climax in the First World War are commonly agreed to define modern culture and literature, this thesis concentrates on their relations with the ‘modernist transformation’ of mathematics as illustrated in Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day (2006) and Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), Hermann Broch’s The Sleepwalkers (1930-1932), and Robert Musil’s The Man without Qualities (1930/32). In the revaluation of mathematics during its foundational crisis, the certainty and rationality of this most certain science is challenged, and the novels accordingly employ mathematics as an example for the dramatic transformation of the modern West, the wider loss of absolute truth, and the increasing scepticism towards Enlightenment values. Crisis, however, also implied some freedoms and opportunities for literature and criticism. When the developing modern notion of mathematics is defined by autonomy and independence from the natural world, it bears traits more commonly associated with literary fiction, and the novels examine the possible convergence of mathematics and literature in the freedom of imaginary existence. The novels thus highlight the unique position of the structural science mathematics in the relation of the (natural) sciences and the humanities and suggest it to escape or straddle the perceived divide between the disciplines. The examination and historicising of relations between fiction and mathematical conceptualisations of the world as introduced in the major works by Pynchon, Broch, and Musil thus also contributes to distinguishing the specific conditions of studying mathematics in fiction in the wider field of literature and science

How advances in science change Jewish law and ethics: assisted reproductive technologies and the redefinition of parenthood

This dissertation investigates the ways scientific and biotechnological advancement impact and change Jewish law and ethics. It analyzes the contemporary Jewish bioethical debate concerning the identification of maternity and paternity in four cases of assisted reproductive technologies (ART): in vitro fertilization, gestational surrogacy, cloning, and mitochondrial replacement therapy. Unprecedented modes of procreation engender new definitions of parenthood, challenging a longstanding Jewish framework of theology, law, and ethics. Part I develops a conceptual scaffolding for the discrete analyses of Part II, and considers the philosophical bases of parenthood, the gendered nature of Jewish legal bioethics, the relationship of law and ethics, and ways of relating religion and science. For each case of ART, Part II examines the biological science and technology in historical context, locates Jewish bioethical concerns within the larger bioethical discussion, and critically reviews the epistemological and axiological dimensions of the legally oriented analyses of a select group of leading Jewish bioethicists, chosen for their copious writings on ART and contextualizing oeuvres: Rabbi J. David Bleich, Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, and the collaborative writings of Dr. John D. Loike and Rabbi Moshe D. Tendler. Insights from Jewish feminist bioethical criticism and other notable Jewish bioethical works enhance the analyses. Through a focused study of the redefinition of parenthood in Jewish law and bioethics, I demonstrate four ways in which advances in science impact Jewish law and ethics. One, scientific awareness leads to greater sophistication and nuance of analysis. Two, Jewish bioethicists grapple with religion and science relations, and speak directly to these overarching considerations. Three, the epistemological and axiological influence of religion and science relations correlate with greater openness to new technologies, theoretical conceptualizations, and their practical applications. Four, advances in science change Jewish legal and bioethical analyses and outcomes through (at least) four possible methodological mechanisms – namely, theoretic holism, innovative interpretation, indeterminate gaps, and realist realignment. Jewish bioethics are thus shown to illumine the intricate interrelationship between religion and science and its impact on Jewish law and ethics

Estephan Douaihy’s Manaratul Aqdas and the Trinitarian paradigm in the Maronite mass

The Seventeenth Century Maronite Patriarch Estephan Douaihy developed a Trinitarian Paradigm in his masterpiece Manaratul Aqdas in order to highlight the manifestation of the Trinity in the Mass. Through the Trinitarian Paradigm, the Trinity is allegorised in objects, signs, movements, prayers, readings and hymns throughout the liturgy. Priesthood and the design of the church are also parts of Douaihy’s Trinitarian Paradigm. Douaihy liturgises the theology of the Trinity in order to bring the Trinity closer to the average human. With this paradigm, every faithful can relate to the Trinity, not only scholars or theologians. By experiencing the Trinitarian manifestation in the Mass, the faithful can know more about the Triune God and understand God’s love in their own lives. Douaihy draws on the work of the Western and Eastern Fathers of the Church to build his Trinitarian theory. While he adopts the various Trinitarian approaches undertaken by the Church Fathers, including faith, reason, awe, economy and Scripture, Douaihy makes liturgy his main approach. In the Mass, the bond of love between God and the human is perfected through the Eucharistic communion. The Eucharist is the ultimate experience of the Trinity