Melden, A. I. (1967). Ethical theories; a book of readings (2d ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,: Prentice-Hall. From these we might check out the "Problem of Evil" or consider modern medicine… "Thus the true cause of the blessedness of the good angels is found to be this, that they cleave to Him who supremely is. And [...]
Melden, A. I. (1967). Ethical theories; a book of readings (2d ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,: Prentice-Hall. Epicurus These quotes touch on many common themes we have seen in PHI101: Philosophy as a spiritual or developmental quest Being careful to ascribe attributes to a thing Short term v. long term pleasures The “happy” life Friendship The [...]
Another blurb for my students regarding M2A1. Remember that when we are working within virtue ethics, virtues are moral values. This is not necessarily the case in other moral theories. Do they come into conflict? This is somewhat of a debate in the academic literature. Traditionally Aristotle held that they cannot come into conflict because [...]
Philosophy web-courses should contain a warning: Danger Brain My Explode. Invest in coffee, aspirin and find a hobby to relieve pressure. A good beginning for Aristotle Virtue Ethics: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/ Some semi-random thoughts as I read through student posts… Acting “Out of character” sounds like something we would hear with respect to a virtue ethics. [...]
Religious organization and spirituality can be a powerful tool in motivating people to fight and help them recover from the horror of war. In light of this, for the past couple of years there has been work on using spiritual resilience training to help shield soldiers from PTSD. Likewise, psychological and religious counselors in the [...]
Is there value to combining experimental moral psychology and moral philosophy? Rene Descartes remains one of the more famous experimental philosophers in history. Some say he is the “Father of Modern Philosophy.” His two most famous contributions are (1) “I think, I am” and (2) the infamous Cartesian Coordinate System that linked geometry with algebra. [...]
It is sad that mental health issues continue to be stigmatized in society. This stigmatization is enhanced within the culture and climate of the military. There is a certain amount of cognitive dissonance when trying to reconcile a “Warrior Ethos” with the fact that good soldiers can experience mental health problems.
More thoughts while reading on the fourth edition of Michael Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars. What is the foundation of military professionalism? Walzer says that “some sense of military honor is still the creed of the professional soldier.” It would be informative to know what contemporary soldiers understand as “honor” within their activities. To paraphrase [...]
Hollywood: Valkyrie “Hero” is not an adjective often used to describe anyone who is formally a Nazi. After all, who familiar with the horrors perpetuated during WWII by Nazi officials would label them heroic? Highlighting these horrors are genocide (attempting to eliminate various peoples to include anyone with “non-Aryan” blood), perverting professional institutions such [...]
More quotes and thoughts from the fourth edition of Michael Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars. Walzer says It is true, however, that we often lack the courage of our judgments. Following James Rest’s work in moral psychology, the psychological aspects of moral action generally follow the sequence: (1) recognition of a moral event, (2) evaluation [...]