Watch, “Ethics, Morality and the Law”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xki2fRA0bY8 (Links to an external site.)

Initial Post: In the video, “Ethics, Morality, and the Law,” the commentator distinguishes between law, morality and ethics. He contends that, whereas morality asks the question “what should I do and how should I live” based on an informal framework of values, principles, beliefs, customs and ways of living, ethics asks the question, “what should I do” based on a process of reflection rather than “unthinking habits or social conventions.” Flowing from that, in her essays on the tradition of the Axial age, Karen Armstrong stated that “what mattered was not what you believed but how you behaved. Religion was about doing things that changed you at a profound level.” (The Great Transformation, p. xiii). In reflecting upon the origins of the Judaism and Christianity, we have found that both traditions are rooted in an experience of revelation (an experience of the DIVINE), which prompted those who experienced it to act in a certain way. It could be argued that Judaism and Christianity required the believer to reflect upon and consider how the experience of the divine required ethical behavior, and then to act accordingly. Respond to the following two questions, with a paragraph for each question (each paragraph should consist on no more than 4-5 sentences). In the first paragraph, identify some of the places where people in our society find ethical insight, and how they put that into practice (it may include religion, but is not limited to it). Try to be concrete in the way such “ethical insight” is put into practice. In the second paragraph, identify where YOU find ethical insight in your life, what are the practices that help you act ethically, and how the practice/practices have helped you grow ethically.

Part 2: ( I will send it later )

Be sure to read the postings of your fellow students, and then respond to the following question in one paragraph (no more than 4-5 sentences). What source of ethical insight and practice listed by your classmates most surprised or intrigued you? Would it be something that you would want to try? Why or why not?