REL 3170 Midterm Study Guide Terms 1 David Little Logic of Pain a Inflicting pain or failing to relieve it is condemnable and morally wrong unless you have good reason 2 John Kelsay uses immanent criticism to evaluate the Just War arguments in Islam from the Shari a reasoning of Militants and Muslim Democrats 3 Pope Francis Current Pope first from the Americas and of Jesuit Order a In his encyclical discusses environmental issues such as danger of technological paradigm and relation between poverty and climate change 4 Gareth Evans proposed R2P Doctrine 5 Shari a Muslim Law 6 R2P Responsibility to Protect ICISS a Recognizes that primary responsibility lies within the state only if the state is unwilling or unable to fulfill this responsibility or becomes the perpetrator itself does it become the responsibility of the international community 7 Sovereignty the authority of a state to govern itself a ICISS and R2P sought to redefine this term from intrastate to interstate i Was only understood in terms of territorial control b Westphalian system Westphalian sovereignty principle of international law that each nation state has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs to the exclusion of all external powers 8 Humans Rights discourse UDHR first time humans recognized as entitled to rights a 1948 adopted by United Nation 9 Just War Criteria in West and Islam a West Jus ad Bellum Jus in Bello b Islam Militant vs Democratic Muslim view both use Shari a reasoning Basics 1 Consequentialism a Focuses on the overall balance of benefit over harm of the action b These consequences that the theory is concerned with could be consequences to oneself Ethical Egoism to one s own group tribalism to everyone except oneself altruism or to all universalism c Utilitarianism holds that the best moral action is the one that maximizes utility i Part of consequentialism because utility is usually considered the well being of those involved ii Ex what will make you satisfied longer or better d Extreme Consequentialism outcomes are not always certain i How can you base decisions over things that you don t know 2 Deontology a Used by Kant principles 3 Virtue Ethics i Based on reason Kantianism ii One can know what to do by using principles gained from reason iii a priori valid independent of experience b Categorical Imperative absolute unconditional requirement that must be obeyed in all circumstances and is justified as an end in itself c Basically if you can do something everyone else can you re not special d Kant can be extreme i Ex If murderous mob asked where the boy they are trying to murder is Kant would tell the truth as to him it is absolutely necessary ii Can lead to counter intuitive moral decisions and a conflict of a Led by Aristotle b Focuses on person s character one should develop a virtuous character that would serve as a disposition to moral action judgment and feeling c Endaimonia ultimate good i Happiness fulfillment flourishing d Aristotle has circular reasoning i Can t do virtuous things if you aren t that kind of person e What makes an act virtuous i Person must know what he is doing ii Person chooses to do act because of inherent good in it not because it will make them look good iii Person has to do it from a firm and unchangeable character f To know what a virtue is follow the phronimos i Habituation training from teacher or parent etc g Follow the Golden Mean there is a side of excess and a side of deficiency and you want to be in the middle i Different for different people ii The virtue IS the Golden Mean h Issues raised i Some bad people do good and good people do bad ii How does character development help What if there is a conflict of virtues 1 Four Sources of Religious Reasoning a Revelation Scripture b Reason c Tradition d Experience 2 Lindbeck s Theories of Religion a Cultural Linguistic experiences and how you see the world are continuously acting on each other i Language drives our experience b Experiential expressivist different religions are diverse expressions or objectifications of a common core experience c Cultural Linguistic is the winner for Singer Peter Singer 1 Three Premises bad a Premise 1 Suffering and death from lack of food shelter and medical care is b Premise 2 If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance we ought morally to do it c Premise 3 It is in our power to help prevent something bad from happening without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance d Conclusion Therefore we ought to help prevent suffering and death e Wiggle room in this argument what is comparable moral importance i What is important to you may not be as important to someone else 2 Peter Singer s argument is different in that he argues that if you do not give then you are morally deficient and a bad person It is not something that you may feel like doing once but something absolutely necessary 3 Peter Singer s argument is consequentialist you are not morally depraved if you donate for betterment of others a Weakness there are some intrinsically evil acts like torturing one to save millions i Couldn t this be utilitarianism Coates Sullivan 1 Coates writes book on racism as a letter to his son a Lost his temper in a theater when a woman pushes his son in an elevator and man calls the police b Says that to be black means that your body can be taken easily from you with little or no consequence i Tries to discover how to live free in his black body ii Difficulty of living in fear of disembodiment c Duty to struggle but not necessarily to hope 2 Sullivan a Ideal for the body for the parasympathetic branch and sympathetic branch to be synchronized i Leads to positive emotions such as appreciation ii Need to work together in the right way iii When there are positive emotions leads to better physiological b Live in a white dominated society physiological needs shaped by white reactions supremacy i Not just our embodied beliefs but some whites physiological reactions and behaviors toward blacks that they may be ignorant to ii Draws on history of AME church by explaining what it did for social justice and how it was a place for the oppressed and the significance of this in the assassination of Pinckney Just War and R2P 1 US Catholic Bishops at the center of the church s teachings on peace and at the center of all Catholic social teaching are transcendence of God and Dignity of the