Summary of Scott B. Rae's Moral Choices

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The question of why be moral is fundamental to understanding ethics. Most people associate doing well in life with being a good person, and being moral is critical to a person’s flourishing in life.

#2 Ethics are crucial because moral questions are at the heart of life’s vital issues. Morality is fundamental to politics, medicine, and the sciences. It is also important because it provides the basis for making moral choices.

#3 There is a greater emphasis on character in today’s society, and ethics helps determine which character traits are admirable and worth cultivating. But many people are beginning to question whether there is such a thing as genuine moral knowledge.

#4 The most critical and foundational element of ethics is the direction that God provides, both in his Word and outside his Word. I believe that morality ultimately stems from the character of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822524712

IRB Media

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Insights on Moral Choices Scott B. Rae's Moral Choices Scott B Raeepub

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The question of why be moral is fundamental to understanding ethics. Most people associate doing well in life with being a good person, and being moral is critical to a person’s flourishing in life.

#2

Ethics are crucial because moral questions are at the heart of life’s vital issues. Morality is fundamental to politics, medicine, and the sciences. It is also important because it provides the basis for making moral choices.

#3

There is a greater emphasis on character in today’s society, and ethics helps determine which character traits are admirable and worth cultivating. But many people are beginning to question whether there is such a thing as genuine moral knowledge.

#4

The most critical and foundational element of ethics is the direction that God provides, both in his Word and outside his Word. I believe that morality ultimately stems from the character of God.

#5

The last four chapters are devoted to some of the most debated and complex issues in today’s society. They cover topics such as abortion, reproductive technologies, and assisted suicide.

#6

Morality is the end result of ethical deliberation, the substance of right and wrong. It is an inexact and sometimes intuitive discipline. Morality is the content of right and wrong, while ethics is the process of determining right and wrong.

#7

There are four main categories of ethics: descriptive, normative, metaethics, and aretaic. Descriptive ethics is a sociological discipline that attempts to describe the morals of a particular society by studying other cultures. Normative ethics produces moral norms or rules. Metaethics investigates the meaning of moral language and considers the justification of ethical theories and judgments.

#8

When making a moral judgment, we should consider the action itself, the motive of the person performing the action, the consequences of their actions, and the character of the moral actor.

#9

There are three primary deontological systems: divine command theory, natural law, and ethical rationalism. The Christian will tend to be more deontologically oriented because of the emphasis in Christian ethics on the commands of God as moral absolutes and guiding principles.

#10

The law is the moral minimum. It is the beginning of our moral obligations, not the end. There are many things that are immoral that are not illegal. The law is the moral floor, not the ceiling.

#11

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. However, many things that are unethical are also illegal, and thus can be legislated.

#12

The myth of Gyges relates to the question, Why be moral. It demonstrates that our perception of reality is limited by our own perspective. We cannot know what is happening outside our own perspective.

#13

For Plato, justice was closely associated with virtue, so the illustration still fits the question, Why be moral. For Christianity, a person not only enters a relationship with Christ and inherits eternal life, but also adopts a worldview.

#14

The Founding Fathers believed that religion was important in public life, and they wrote about it in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Christian ethics is a blend of both virtues and principles. The Bible makes a clear connection between God’s character and his commands. The virtues follow from God’s character, and the moral principles are derived from them.

#2

The Bible is not a tightly structured systematic theology, but a mixture of different theological emphases presented in a variety of literary styles. It makes use of a diversity of types of moral reasoning to supplement the primary emphasis on virtues and principles.

#3

The Wisdom Literature contains a measure of utilitarian reasoning, as it was written to appeal to other cultures. The authors could not rely on the same style of reasoning that other authors used with Israel, so they used principles and consequences to persuade their audience.

#4

The Bible also appeals to natural law, or the revelation of God’s moral values outside the pages of Scripture. Natural law is not limited to observations from nature, however. It refers to universal moral principles that are not specifically derived from special revelation.

#5

The Old Testament is a rich resource of material for ethical reflection, beginning with the Ten Commandments and moving through the Wisdom Literature to the prophets’ searing moral condemnation of Israel for their idolatry and resulting moral shortcomings.

#6

The Law, which is the foundation of Old Testament ethics, is made up of three parts: the moral law, the civil law, and the ceremonial law. The moral law is made up of the Ten Commandments, and it addresses the basic principles of morality. The civil law addresses social relations and institutions, and the ceremonial law addresses Israel’s worship of God.

#7

The Ten Commandments are the foundation of Christian ethics, as well as social morality. They were given to the Israelites following the miraculous exodus from Egypt, and were the core on which the remainder of the Mosaic law was based.