In her Exemplarist Moral Theory, Linda Zagzebski argues that we can empirically discover the meaning of moral terms like ‘virtue’ and ‘the good life’ by direct reference to moral exemplars – those ...people we admire as morally exceptional. Her proposal is promising, because (1) moral exemplars play an important motivating role in moral education, and (2) her use of direct reference means we may be able to avoid the contentious descriptivism that accompanies moral terms like ‘good’ and ‘virtue’. In this article, I argue that Zagzebski’s theory fails regarding (2), because her direct reference method must use presupposed descriptions and leads to circular identification of moral exemplars.
Acts of Christian forgiveness that run counter to natural inclinations and ethical intuitions raise questions about the nature of human identity and the basis of moral theology. An assessment of the ...biblical and theological warrant for Christian forgiveness challenges the ethical misappropriation of the language of covenant, torah and righteousness to that of contract, law and justice. The argument is made that forgiveness should be seen as normative—indeed, obligatory rather than supererogatory. A theological account is then provided of the conditions under which our natural inclinations are transformed so as to facilitate an orientation of forgiveness. It is argued that the doctrines of the incarnation and human participation in the mind of Christ (where transformation is conceived as both ‘evangelical’ and ‘ecclesial’) are axiomatic for interpreting the Christian life and thus moral theology. This leads to the conclusion that a combination of ‘reconciled exemplarism’ and ‘semantic externalism’ is key to the exposition of Christian ethics – the language of which tracks God’s historical engagement with humanity rather than denoting immanent, ethical categories.
While Spinoza stipulates an ideal moral person in the propositions on the 'free man' in Ethics IV, this account does not seem to be intended to function as a pedagogical tool of political relevance. ...Hence, it does not seem to correspond to the purpose of moral exemplarism. If we look for that kind of practical guidance, Spinoza's political works seem more relevant. Interestingly, when we approach Spinoza's political theory with moral exemplarism in mind, we find that instead of constructing his exemplar on the idea of a supremely moral person, he emphasizes the concept of ingenium to chisel out an imperfect model of human behavior. We argue that the purpose of this is to avoid a utopian and inefficient political theory and to work out a moral practice that is capable of assisting people and communities in ethical self-transformation.
Many people report that reading first-person narratives of the experience of illness can be morally instructive or educative. But although they are ubiquitous and typically sincere, the precise ...nature of such educative experiences is puzzling, for those narratives typically lack the features that modern philosophers regard as constitutive of moral reason. I argue that such puzzlement should disappear, and the morally educative power of illness narratives explained, if one distinguishes two different styles of moral reasoning: an inferentialist style that generates the puzzlement and an alternative exemplarist style that offers a compelling explanation of the morally educative power of pathographic literature.
This paper is an exploration of St Bonaventure’s sermon Christ Our One Teacher with reference to the contemporary epistemological debate. In particular, I approach this text in the light of Lydia ...Schumacher’s recent work on what she calls faith-based theories of knowledge. These theories, differ from the mainstream epistemic paradigm in that they are grounded in a framework according to which faith and knowledge do not stand opposed; rather, in such theories faith functions as a prerequisite to knowledge. My thesis, is that Bonaventure’s positions as expressed in Christ Our One Teacher are an instantiation of such a paradigm. Accordingly, I shall outline the general aspects of the claims which Bonaventure advances in this sermon. Then, I shall move onto a presentation of Schumacher’s definition of a faith-based theory of knowledge. Finally, I will analyze and interpret the specific steps of Bonaventure’s argument in the light of Schumacher’s ideas.
Throughout his life Paul Tillich balanced on “the middle ground” between philosophy and theology, or religion and culture, but philosophy of religion was the strongest and the most permanent impetus ...that propelled him through all the stages of his intellectual development, so this research will try to show the seminal determinants of the ontological type of the philosophy of religion. The research focuses on Tillich’s conception of philosophy of religion, which is presented here with special emphasis on his well-known essay “The Two Types of Philosophy of Religion”, whereas the method of investigation also includes an analysis of the relevant ideas propounded by some of the most significant theologians in the history of humankind. By means of a critical analysis, the author has reached the conclusion that Tillich is more inclined to the ontological approach, since in this way “the problem of two absolutes” is resolved by the insight proving their identity in truth, that is by the “mystical” principle of the immediate awareness of “Being-itself”, which is both “truth in itself” and “good in itself”. This entails that, owing to self-awareness and immediately self-evident first principles, we also possess “the ontological awareness” of the unconditional nature of being, truth and goodness, and these transcendental categories, in turn, provide us with “the necessity of God” as “the principle of being” and the unconditional norm of our thinking.
Linda Zagzebski is one of the philosophers working on the emotions and motivating dispositions of the saints. By expanding her theory of divine motivation, she tried to fill in an important gap in ...previous accounts about saintly life and show why thinking of the saints only as moral exemplars is insufficient. She argues that the saints’ connection to God is what makes them morally good. Zagzebski focuses rightly on the emotions of the saints and provides valuable insights into their moral psychology. In the present study, we first discuss the etymology of the word "saint" and examine its historical background in Christian culture, and then, through the explanation of Zagszebski's important theories of Exemplarism and Divine Motivation, we criticize her most important arguments about the saintly life. Although her attractive viewpoint makes some important advances toward understanding and justifying moral saintliness, it remains deficient insofar as she cannot accurately clarify the limits of imitating saints and the nature of their connection to God. Also, she neglects the role of religious institutions, communities, and spiritual disciplines in helping the saints come to share God’s motives; and she either does not give due attention to the specific virtues and gifts the saints- especially in non-Christian cultures- possess. So, her account is not comprehensive enough in this regard. IntroductionLinda Zagzebski, a contemporary moral philosopher and theoretician of Moral Exemplarism, in analyzing and explaining the distinction of different moral theories, points to three concepts of goodness, virtue, and right action. She believes that an effective moral theory should motivate people to live morally and drive them to moral excellence. Zagzebski defends a virtue-based approach to explain a compelling and attractive moral theory that can drive people to goodness without obligation. However, her considered virtue is not a mere cognitive and mental concept. Rather, it is closely related to emotional motivation, which arises from reference to imitable ideals called moral saints. In fact, the saints are the starting point of her exemplarism account of virtue ethics. Zagzebski considers the goodness of saints because they share divine motives with others. In this study, we first explore the historical roots and usage of the word saint, and then, while briefly explaining the function of Zagszebski's theory of moral exemplarism, we discuss the divine motivation of saints and the components of saintly life from her point of view. Finally, we criticize the sufficiency of these arguments. Materials and MethodsWe tried to provide a correct understanding of the word "saint" by reviewing numerous articles and entries in religious encyclopedias. Also, we reviewed the interesting essays which have been written about the acceptance, application, or rejection of the saintly lifestyle in western philosophical literature and theology. We examined Linda Zagzebski's moral and theological views and her exemplarism approach, which have good references to the role models of saints, the discussion of God's imitation, and the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ as a model of moral virtues. In sum, the present research is a new and distinctive work in terms of applying and analyzing the two theories of Zegzebski's exemplarism and divine motivation, drawing the face of the moral saints considered by her and criticizing this view. Research FindingsBy placing God as the source of all valuable attributes, Zagzebski describes the similarities of the saints in their moral and religious dimensions and justifies their differences based on their life narratives, emotional reactions in different situations, and their motivations in response to those situations. Her view affirms the existence of certain characteristics in saints which are best known as strong emotional dispositions; Desires that are somehow related to their relationship with God. Zagzebski's recent explanation of saints is important because she rightly tries to connect their religious and moral aspects. Focusing properly on the emotions of the saints, she provides valuable insights into their motivations for performing supererogation and highly humanitarian behaviors, the good cause of their emotions, and why they should be imitated. In short, Zagzebski’s final view on saints can be summarized in three main components:a) Being moral and religious ideal: Zagszebski's explanation of saintliness, with the right emphasis on the relationship of saints with God and their moral ideal and trying to understand the nature of the relationship between these two aspects, is outstanding among the philosophical descriptions of saints. Zagzebski considers the moral goodness of the saints because of their imitation of Christ and then developing motives like his. So, the sacrifice and supererogatory actions of the saints can be justified from the point of view of religious imitation.b) Having developed emotions: Saints are known for communicating from the heart with people, loving real goodness, and not being fascinated by the external appearance of people, looking at phenomena as they really are, and providing valuable and efficient advice even to strangers, and all these abilities are due to their developed emotions.c) Imitability: According to Zagzebski, we should imitate the emotions, motivations, and virtues of the saints and perform actions that produce the same results that the saints are motivated to achieve. She introduces the saints as role models in life, who appear good in almost any situation, and referring to their life narrations inspires admiration for all of us. Discussion of Results and ConclusionIn general, it is possible to evaluate Zagszebs’s effort in explaining her moral theory in the direction of emphasizing the lives of saints as effective and captivating moral models. Using the theory of direct reference, she describes the process of imitating virtues from virtuous people and further points out the common characteristics of moral saints. By claiming to discover the good nature of moral models, Zagzebski tries to reduce the main foundations of moral theories, including attention to the character of the agent in virtue ethics and attention to actions and consequences in deontological and utilitarian ethics, to the concept of emotions. From her point of view, the value of virtue depends on its connection with emotions that are really good.By referring all moral values to God as the source of goodness, she aims to get rid of the charge of relativism regarding her considered moral models to the extent that she considers the condition of being a saint to be shared by others in divine motives and virtues, as embodied in her character, Jesus Christ. In summing up her view on saints, we find these people as moral and religious ideals, with developed emotions and worthy of imitation. But with all the positive points in Zagsbeski’s account, there are also criticisms: The inability to discover the nature of the relationship of saints with God, the uncertainty of the extent of the devotion to saints, not comprehensive in drawing out the characteristics of saintly life, generalizing the examples of Christian culture to other cultures and religions, ignoring the role of religious communities and spiritual teachings in the development of moral ideals. In any case, it seems that part of the doubts and criticisms about Zagzebski’s view is due to the newness of her theory, which could become clear with more research.
According to the logic of the gendered modernity/tradition binary, women in traditional societies are oppressed and women in modern societies liberated. While the binary valorizes modern women, it ...potentially erases gendered oppression in the West and undermines feminist movements on behalf of Western women. Using U.S. newspaper text, I ask whether female genital cutting (FGC) is used to define women in modern societies as liberated. I find that speakers use FGC to both uphold and challenge the gendered modernity/tradition binary. Speakers use FGC to denigrate non-Western cultures and trivialize the oppressions that U.S. women typically encounter, but also to make feminist arguments on behalf of women everywhere. I argue that in addition to examining how culturally imperialist logics are reproduced, theorists interested in feminist postcolonialism should turn to the distribution of such logics, emphasizing the who, where, when, and how of reinscription of and resistance to such narratives.
Responding to Ordinary Christology Christie, Ann
Journal of adult theological education,
20/5/1/, Letnik:
10, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article uses empirical data from a previous study to explore how theological educators should respond to ordinary Christology as well as ordinary soteriology. It begins by addressing the ...question of how to respond to beliefs about Jesus that do not conform to the canons of official orthodoxy and proceeds to argue for the functional Christology of ordinary believers to be given a say in defining orthodoxy and enlarging normativity. Some of the implications for theological education of exemplarist soteriology, together with its corollary pluralism, are also discussed and a plea is made for ordinary theology to be taken seriously by those who are engaged in Christian education, as well as those involved in Christian mission and ministry. Finally, various pedagogical implications of ordinary Christology are briefly explored in the light of the findings from the previous study.
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