Moral Philosophy and Why It Matters

“Moral Minds” Response

As I read the chapter in “Moral Minds,” I at first wondered when emotions would be a significant player in the theories mentioned because in real life, emotions seem to be a major driver in how people make decisions, especially in relationships; I’m glad the chapter eventually got there. Maybe because I’ve lived in different of the Bible Belt, I wondered how spirituality and religion fit into the author’s view of morality. For some, they would argue that there is an outside influence such as the Bible that determines morality.

“Raising a Moral Child” Response

While it is nice that the author backs up their parenting advice with research, practically, the main premise – that we’re more concerned about children becoming kind, compassionate and helpful – is hard for me to believe. When I hear mothers talking about their children, they are usually speaking about the achievements their child has made, versus how helpful they have been to others; this applies even to a religious community that teaches members to deny self to serve others.

“What’s Morally Acceptable?” Response

I was surprised to see that overall, the worldwide medians were pretty unacceptable on different “controversial” issues such as extramarital affairs, gambling, homosexuality and abortion; and premarital sex and alcohol use were in the 40^th percentiles. Depending on what media sources you listen to, some politicians act as if America needs to be the “moral police,” for other countries, when if you look at the stats only for the United States, we are more liberal in all categories except for extramarital affairs.

 “Ethics and Moral Reasoning” Connection with “The Meaning of Culture”

Rothman explains “culture” and how it arrived from the world “civilization” in his New Yorker article. Page 22 of “Ethics and Moral Reasoning” describes customs as having the purpose of providing security and stability, the foundation of human behavior, and morality as the customary behavior of people. Rothman’s definition of “civilization” (read: culture) is that which provides a homogenizing system, and to me, that also seems to describe security and stability.

“Moral Minds” Connection with “Ethics and Moral Reasoning”

It would be interesting to create a normative ethics approach to the Case Study 1.1.from “Ethics and Moral Reasoning” to the models on page 45 of “Moral Minds.” But the first question is what the event would be: are you looking the review of the duck soap? Or does the model call dealing with the broader event of accepting the offer of MarketingMarx?