Question : Is morality necessarily based on religion? Discuss.
(2015)
Answer : Religion is a set of belief, attitudes and practices that relate human beings to sacred realities. Morality on the other hand, contains moral beliefs concerning what is right and what is wrong. What ought to be done or what ought not to be done. Now the question if morality if based on religion can be answered by analyzing the clash between religious beliefs and moral beliefs.
This is actually a critical situation. Suppose in a controversial ....
Question : “An atheist may be a better man than a religious person bereft of moral values.” Discuss.
(2015)
Answer : This statement is pointing towards autonomy of morality. That is morality is independent of religion. In fact this statement calls for morality be accorded higher importance than religion. An atheist is a person who does not have belief in God. The above statements can be justified on the basis of following example:
Suppose Hindu deity Lord Ganesha started consuming milk in abundance. And this situation had taken place in dearth of milk, children had started starving. ....
Question : How far can religious morality incorporate individual freedom?
(2014)
Answer : Individual freedom refers to belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence and acts based on this belief.
But problem is that many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. These include the Triple Jems of Jainism, Judaism’s Halacha, Islam’s Sharia, Catholicism’s Canon Law, Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, and Zoroastrianism’s “good thoughts, good words, and good deeds” concept, ....
Question : Is religious morality consistent with individual freedom?
(2013)
Answer : G.K. Chesterton famously said “religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.”There are a lot of debates on the objectivity of morality. In other words, the absolute parameters to determining morality are open to be questioned. Religious morality try to set some absolute and objective parameters for morality. And, in the course of history there have been ....
Question : “I can be moral without being religious, but I cannot be religious without being moral.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.
(2012)
Answer : In the philosophy of religion there is elaborate discussion about the relationship between the religion and morality. There are four types of relationships in between morality; and religion, they are: first, morality is based on religion; second, religion is based on morality, third, morality and religion both are separate and independent; fourth, religion and morality are complimentary to each other.
The above given statement is related to second type of relationship. The statement means that the ....
Question : How can religious conflicts about truth be resolved? Discuss.
(2011)
Answer : To see the historical inevitability of the plurality or religions in the past and its noninevitability in the future, we must note the broad course that has been taken by the religious life of humanity.
The religious conflict about the truth among the various religions is due to the fact that men differ widely in terms of thinking and correspondingly their religions too differ. In the light of this it is possible to consider the hypothesis ....
Question : Does the notion of absolute truth give rise to intolerance and religious conflicts? Discuss.
(2011)
Answer : Men differ widely from one another and correspondingly their religions too differ. Each can see the religious truth as he percieves it and by following the light wherever it may lead him he fulfils his destiny. Theistic religion claims that since their truth has come directly from god, their own religion is correct and rest all are wrong. Revealed religion is unforgiving. If the propositional view of revealation is accepted then the follower is bound ....
Question : Explain the notion of truth as “Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti” (Truth is one, the learned interpret it differently.)
(2011)
Answer : The brief survey of the varying conceptions of God in the samhitas, quite naturally raise two questions. The first is – why is it that now one God, now another, is lifted to the loftiest position and celebrated as the supreme divinity? Max Muller has observed this phenomenon and named this henotheism, but has done little to fathom its mystery. Its true explanation is to be found in the hymns themselves, declares Swami Vivekananda “that ....
Question : Examine the view that the foundation of morality is possible only in a religious framwork.
(2011)
Answer : Most of the theistic systems believe that morality completely depends on religion. According to this view all moral laws are commandment of God. It is one’s moral duty to obey the command. God determines the standard of morality. In other words, every sphere of morality depends on religion.
According to H.P. Owen moral laws imply that there must be a law giver. If moral laws are objective and absolute then there must be a God. Here ....
Question : Discuss the salient features of traditional orthodox religion.
(2011)
Answer : Religion comes out of life and can never be divorced from it. The root meaning of religion is that which binds men together and which binds the loose ends of impulses, desires and various process of each individual. Hence it is an integrative experience of man collectively and individually. There are many forms of orthodox religions but they share certein salient features, they are :
First, a belief in the supernatural power or being i.e. God. ....
Question : If morality has to follow from religion, can there be rational justification for moral actions? Discuss
(2010)
Answer : According to theists moral order or moral law suggests a supreme moral authority who establishes the basis (objective basis) for moral law. Otherwise, we have the pressing question concerning an objective standard for our moral judgments. But we need the objective standard, or we are thrown into the moral chaos that extreme relativism brings with it. So we could consider these propositions: Simply by virtue of his belief in God, a person tends to moral ....
Question : Property of religion without morality.
(2008)
Answer : Religionis a set of stories, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural quality, that give meaning to the practitioner’s experiences of life through reference to an ultimate power or reality. It may be expressed through prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art among other things. The term “religion” refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. “Religion” is sometimes used interchangeably with “faith” ....
Question : There are two incompatible views regarding the relationship between religion and morality. According to one view morality requires some divine transcendental source in order that it be binding and objective. The second view argues in favour of purely secular, based entirely on human reason. Which one of these two views is correct in your opinion and why? Discuss.
(2007)
Answer : The divine command theory (DCT) of ethics holds that an act is either moral or immoral solely because God either commands us to do it or prohibits us from doing it, respectively. On DCT the only thing that makes an act morally wrong is that God prohibits doing it, and all that it means to say that torture is wrong is that God prohibits torture. DCT is wildly implausible for reasons best illustrated by the ....
Question : Distinguish between religious and secular ethics. Discuss, in this context the view that holds that secular ethics are superior to religious ethics because religious ethics are essentially based on rules without decisive regard for consequences, whereas secular ethics, as their best, aim at producing the best overall consequences.
(2006)
Answer : Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is “the good life”, the life worth living or life that is simply satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct. Most religions have an ethical component, often derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance.
Secular ethics is a ....
Question : "Secular ethics cannot satisfactorily answer the question, 'why should I be moral all the time?"
(2004)
Answer : One argument often said trying to prove the existence of their God is as follows: If God does not exist, and then there are no objective moral values.There are objective moral values.Therefore, God exists. Those who use this argument also claim that Atheists cannot have any basis for acting morally; they grudgingly admit that Atheists can act morally, but insist that we have no rational, secular grounds for doing so. Craig a western philosopher has ....
Question : Are God and religion necessary presuppositions of morality? Elucidate your answer following Kant. Also consider critically in this context the possible ground(s) of morality for an atheist.
(2003)
Answer : Ethics or morality is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct. Most religions have an ethical component, often derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance. Morality ....
Question : There are two incompatible views regarding the relationship between religion and morality. According to one view morality requires some divine transcendental source in order that it be binding and objective. The second view argues in favour of purely secular, based entirely on human reason. Which one of these two views is correct in your opinion and why? Discuss.
(2001)
Answer : The divine command theory (DCT) of ethics holds that an act is either moral or immoral solely because God either commands us to do it or prohibits us from doing it, respectively. On DCT the only thing that makes an act morally wrong is that God prohibits doing it, and all that it means to say that torture is wrong is that God prohibits torture. DCT is wildly implausible for reasons best illustrated by the ....
Question : Religion and Morality.
(1997)
Answer : Religious belief systems usually include the idea of divine will and divine judgment and usually correspond to a moral code of conduct, and many religions claim that religion and morality are intimately connected. Although morality can be derived from unaided reason as it is simply the "right ordering" of man's actions, ultimately it derives from God because God created man and nature and that the ultimate sanction for immorality is the loss of a relationship ....
