Religion and Morality

by D. Z. Phillips (Editor)

Overview

Reflection on religion inevitably involves consideration of its relation to morality. When great evil is done to human beings, we may feel that something absolute has been violated. Can that sense, which is related to gratitude for existence, be expressed without religious concepts? Can we express central religious concerns, such as losing the self, while abandoning any religious metaphysic? Is moral obligation itself dependent on divine commands if it is to be objective, or is morality not only independent of religion, but its accuser if God is said to allow horrendous evils? In any case, what happens to the absolute claims of religion in what is, undeniably, a morally pluralistic world? These are the central questions discussed by philosophers of religion and moral philosophers in this collection. They do so in ways which bring new aspects to bear on these traditional issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333620663
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	03/24/1996
Series:	Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion Series
Edition description:	1996
Pages:	355
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements - Contributors - Introduction; D.Z.Phillips - RELIGION AS INFANTILE - Is Religion an Infantile Morality?; R.Gaita - Reply: Morality, Humanity and Historicality: Remorse and Religion Revisited; R.Schacht - MORALITY AND DIVINE COMMANDS - The Concept of a Divine Command; R.Merrihew Adams - Reply: Moral Duty and God: A View from the Left; C.A.Kucheman - THE PROBLEM OF EVIL - Evil and the God-Who-Does Nothing-In Particular; M.McCord Adams - Reply: Redeeming Sorrows; R.Williams - RELIGION AND MORAL RELATIVISM - Relativism about Torture: Religious and Secular Responses; P.L.Quinn - Reply: Ethical Universality and Ethical Relativism; J.Runzo - BUDDHISM AND ETHICS - Ethics Post-Zen; J.V.Canfield - Reply: Before 'Post-Zen': A Discussion of Buddhist Ethics; F.J.Hoffman - ATHEISM, MORALITY AND RELIGION - Atheism and Morality; R.W.Beardsmore - Reply: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Anscombe on Moral Unintelligibility; J.Conant - Voices in Discussion; D.Z.Phillips - Index of Names - Index of Topics