What is the general problem with lying?
It is seen as a dishonest act, and it creates distrust
- has a bad impact on relationships. Fruitful relationships tend to work
- disorders in society. A dishonest society will malfunction.
What is the case study about Corrie ten Boom?
- For her efforts to hide Jews from arrest and deportation during the German occupation of the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom cited religious motivations for hiding Jews, particularly her family’s strong belief in a basic tenet of their religion: the equality of all human beings before God. Their religious activities had also brought the family a history of personal connections to the Jewish community
How does lying affect the primary precepts?
Lying will contribute to disorder in society, e.g. if people lied in business arrangements no property would every be safe
A secondary precept is ‘do not lie’
- Honesty is an important virtue needed for a virtuous society to thrive
- affects worship of God as the 9th commandment says “ do not bear false witness” so it would be disobedient to god if we die.
What does Aquinas say about lying?
“now a lie is evil in respect of its genus… every lie is a sin”
“it is lawful to hide the truth prudently, by keeping it back”
What does Aquinas say about lies?
- Aquinas argues that some lies are non-malicious and not immoral.
This links to Exodus, where it tells us that the midwives of Egypt lied to the pharaoh and said all the Israelite first borns had been killed when they hadn’t. god rewarded the midwives, and God “does not reward sin”
What does the catholic church say about lying?
“lying is the most direct offense against the truth”
What does Kant say about lying?
Every person is bound by following their duty
It is our duty not to lie.
- truth telling is a categorical imperative
- to lie is to break a universal law and to treat others as a “means to an end”
What do proportionalists say about lying?
- Aquinas’s thinking is illogical and irrational.
- proportionality considers
the intention of the moral agent. the value of the good effect, weighed against the disvalue of the bad effect, this means that proportionality would allow lying if there was a proportionate reason to do so.
What does situational ethics think about lying?
It depends on the situation .
situation ethics is centred around agapeic love and “love relatives the absolute , does not absolute the relative”
- If lying brings the most loving outcome, then it is acceptable.
How do the four working principles apply to pragmatism?
- pragmatism, do the most practical thing
- personalism - people come first, not rules
- positivism, value judgement needs to be made based on love
Relativism: no fixed rules; all decisions are relative to the situation
What does virtue ethics say about lying?
“the good for man is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue”
- doesn’t provide absolute rules
- must do the most virtuous thing in a situation, if the most virtuous thing to do is to lie, then you must.
- need to find the “golden mean”
What is the general problem with theft?
It’s seen as a dishonest act
- a person can no longer take pleasure in their property
- disorders in society.
How does theft affect the primary precpets
- goes against the precept of “orderd society” as it continues to disorder
This goes against the “worship god” as the eighth commandment says “thou shall not steal”
what are the situations in which aquinas believes it is okay to steal?
- “If the need be so manifest and urgent… then it is lawful for a man to succor his own need by means of another’s property.
What does situational ethics say about theft?
if stealing the most loving thing to do in a situation, that provides the most loving outcome, then it is acceptable to do.
- situation ethics is people centred however, if stealing from another deprives them of being able to use that thing, then it is not the most loving thing to do.
What does virtue ethics say about theft?
”..some have names that are immediately associated with baseness… adultury,theft, and murder”
- theft is then always wrong and is always a base action.
What is the UK law on abortion?
- abortion is only allowed if 2 doctors agree that the mother’s life is at risk
- the mother’s physical or mental health is at risk
- the child is very likely to be born severely handicapped
- there would be a serious effect on other children in the family.
When do catholics believe life begins?
- at conception
What does Peter Singer believe about foetuses
- the criteria for personhood should replace the sanctity for human life.
- Some qualities compromise personhood, and fetuses cannot exhibit them.
