Concept tag
#comparative-ethics
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One night at the delivery bed, tested against five traditions’ answers to what makes an act right
Three weeks ago a mother I was attending delivered a baby who was clearly unwell. The doctor had been called and was twenty minutes away. The mother, exhausted, held my hand and asked: “Is my baby all right?” I did not know…
Started by Farhana Akter5 replies187 views -
Confucian ethics is a role ethics, and filing it under virtue ethics hides its best idea
In the national ethics curriculum I teach in Seoul, Confucius sits on the same page as Aristotle under the heading "virtue ethics". I used to accept that. I now think it is a mistake, or at least a costly simplification. Here is…
Started by Ji-woo Park6 replies274 views -
Do the world’s ethical traditions really agree about how to live, or does it only look that way from far off?
There is a claim one often meets in comparative philosophy courses: traditions that disagree completely about metaphysics agree substantially about how to live. Aristotelian virtue, Confucian self-cultivation, Buddhist training and Islamic adab all say character is shaped by repeated action, habit makes…
Started by Kenneth Leung Chi-ho6 replies184 views -
Traditions that disagree about the self agree about how to live, so ethics can do without metaphysics
I taught ethics in a Gymnasium for years, and the comparison that always woke my students up was this one. Put the great traditions side by side on what a person is, and they disagree completely: an immortal soul, an eternal self…
Started by Henrike Vogel6 replies236 views