Scott B. Rae > Quotes

“Be careful of the person who insists, “You can’t legislate morality!” Whether that statement is true depends on what is meant by “morality.” If moral beliefs, motives, or intentions are meant, then those certainly cannot be legislated. In fact, the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion and speech, was written to keep the state out of the business of imposing beliefs on its citizens. That is, it was to protect the church from the state, not to protect the state from the church. A person’s genuine moral intent is changed by persuasion, not coercion, since intent has to do with one’s free choices. But if by morality one means “moral behavior,” then that can be, and is, legislated virtually every day around the world.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“normative ethics refers to the discipline that produces moral norms or rules as its end product.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn has noted the following: Every culture has a concept of murder, distinguishing this from execution, killing in war and other justifiable homicides. The notions of incest and other regulations upon sexual behavior, the prohibitions on untruth under defined circumstances, of restitution and reciprocity, of mutual obligations between parents and children—these and many other moral concepts are altogether universal.17”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Reducing morality to matters of opinion or feeling is at the heart of Hume’s project. The reason his theory is important is that it is widely followed today. Morality is becoming increasingly subjective and is losing its propositional nature as people in our culture insist that judgments of right and wrong are merely individual subjective feelings or opinion.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Most people use the terms morality and ethics interchangeably. Technically, morality refers to the actual content of right and wrong, and ethics refers to the process of determining right and wrong. In other words, morality deals with moral knowledge and ethics with moral reasoning.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Despite its philosophical shortcomings, ethical relativism does have appeal, particularly to the popular culture. The first appeal of relativism is based on the important idea that morality does not develop in a sociological vacuum.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“The Old Testament (OT) statement of the demand for individuals and communities to be moral comes in two primary ways—the commands to obey God’s law (Ex. 19:5–6) and the mandate to follow the way of wisdom (Prov. 8:1, 22–31).”
― Scott B. Rae, Introducing Christian Ethics: A Short Guide to Making Moral Choices

“A third form of relativism smuggled into the popular culture is called situation ethics. Popularized by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s and 1970s, situation ethics holds that all morality is relative to the situation in which one finds oneself, and one’s moral obligation is to do the loving thing in that situation.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“With the current emphasis on multiculturalism and appreciation for the cultural diversity that exists in much of the world, and the importance of a culture’s values in its self-definition, it should not surprise us that there is a movement toward accepting all cultures’ values as equally valid, which is the definition of cultural relativism.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“A fourth weakness of relativism is that it provides no way to arbitrate among competing cultural value claims.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“metaethics is an area of ethics that investigates the meaning of moral language, or the epistemology of ethics, and also considers the justification of ethical theories and judgments.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Emotivism maintains that the only statements capable of having meaning are those that are empirically verifiable, but this underlying principle is itself not empirically verifiable.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Second, emotivism is actually a theory of the use of moral language, not of its meaning.13 The emotivist has jumped from a theory of use to a theory of meaning without any justification for that leap.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“relativism refers to an ethical system in which right and wrong are not absolute and unchanging but relative to one’s culture (cultural relativism) or one’s own personal preferences (moral subjectivism).”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“teleological systems are systems that are based on the end result produced by an action.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“A second weakness of relativism is related to the first. Many of the observations of moral diversity were differences in moral practices.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“The fifth and most serious charge against relativism is an extension of the fourth weakness. The relativist cannot morally evaluate any clearly oppressive culture or, more specifically, any obvious tyrant.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“The primary form of teleological ethics is called utilitarianism, which holds that the action that produces the greatest good for the greatest number is the moral choice. More specifically, utilitarianism defines the good generally as the greatest pleasure, or preference satisfaction, and seeks that for the greatest number. Another form of teleological ethics is called ethical egoism, which maintains that the right thing to do is whatever is in a person’s self-interest. Thus, for the ethical egoist the only consequence that matters is whether it advances his or her own self-interest.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Ethical egoism is the theory that the morality of an act is determined by one’s self-interest.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Ethical systems may be classified as either action-oriented systems or virtue-based systems. Under these two major divisions are three subcategories by which ethical systems may be further classified: deontological systems, teleological systems, and relativism.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“A second philosophical development that contributed to emotivism was the rise of logical positivism. Logical positivists claimed that only two types of statements are possible: (1) analytical statements, such as definitions, and (2) factual statements that are empirically verifiable.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“The Appeal of Utilitarianism”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“One should remember that at times even Jesus separated from the crowds to seek solitude with his heavenly Father. Hence the Bible seems to suggest that self-interest has a legitimate place, but it needs to be balanced by a compassionate concern for the interests of others.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Two primary criticisms have been raised of postmodernism.16 The first is to insist that just because one sees the world through a particular set of lenses (or biases), it does not mean that he or she is incapable of rationality or objectivity. It may make being rational and objective more difficult, but it does not make it impossible.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“For the subjectivist, moral judgments are reports or statements of fact about the attitude of the person who says them. For the emotivist, moral judgments are not facts at all, but emotional expressions about an action or person. The subjectivist will say, “Homosexuality is wrong!” This means, “I disapprove of homosexuality.” For the emotivist, the same statement means, “Homosexuality, yuck! Boo!” Emotivism is thus a more sophisticated theory than subjectivism. Both share the idea that moral judgments are not normative statements and that objective moral facts are nonexistent.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Virtue theory is an ethic of character, not duty. These emphases are certainly consistent with the biblical emphasis on becoming more like Christ in character.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Virtue theory, which is also called aretaic ethics (from the Greek term arete, “virtue”), holds that morality is more than simply doing the right thing. The foundational moral claims made by the virtue theorist concern the moral agent (the person doing the action), not the act that the agent performs.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“Morality is primarily concerned with questions of right and wrong, the ability to distinguish between the two, and the justification of the distinction.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“A sixth weakness of relativism is that it allows no room for moral reformers or prophets.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics

“In other words, the utilitarian must appeal to principles to determine what constitutes a good or harmful consequence. What makes an outcome harmful or beneficial thus depends on a prior commitment to principles. It seems that the utilitarian must “smuggle in” principles to give substance to the notions of harm and benefit. For example, why should we conclude that a murder victim has been harmed? What makes that a harm if his or her life is not sacred, possessing intrinsic human dignity? It’s true that someone is harmed when murdered, but what makes that harmful is that the principle of the dignity of persons is violated. You could make a similar argument for other actions that produce harms, such as the above example of sexual assault.”
― Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics