A Praxis Approach to Religious Ethics: Relating Belief & Practice
(NB: today's process is a model for the Wiesel paper)

1. Information Gathering & Organizing Skills
   Opening Queries: What would you say are your 5 key values? Conversely, what do you worry about the most? How would you put these in rank order? What would you say is the ultimate value? (Individual write)
2. Remembering Skills
   What are the sources for ethical decision-making? I.e., where do "oughts" arise? e.g., Scripture, Tradition, Church community, Experience
3. Organizing Skills
   How does the biblical doctrine of creation serve as a source for Bernardin's ethical reasoning in "A Consistent Ethic of Human Life"?
4. Analyzing Skills
   How should one apply this ethic/value? This question = morality; morality "operates at the intersection of the person and the world" E.g., review handout from last day: what mode of ethical reasoning is Bernardin using in his "consistent life ethic" proposal?

• Ethical Subjectivism -- moral judgments are individuals' opinions
• Emotivism -- moral judgments are simply emotional responses
• Social Contract Theory
• Deontological (rule-based) theories:
  • Divine Command Theory -- moral judgments are "God's will"
  • Natural Law Theory -- moral judgments are "the dictates of reason"
  • Kant's "Categorical Imperative": "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785; cited in Rachels, 115)
  • Rachels' "Morality Without Hubris": "We ought to act so as to promote impartially the interests of everyone alike, except when individuals deserve particular responses as a result of their own past behavior." [James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy (New York, etc.: McGraw-Hill, 1986), 143]
• Teleological (goal-based) theories:
  • Ethical Egoism -- a moral act is what benefits me
  • Utilitarianism -- a moral act is what causes the greatest amount of happiness for the most people concerned
    • i.e., 1) right actions are those that have the best consequences
    • 2) in assessing #1, the amount of happiness or unhappiness caused is the only relevant consideration (= hedonism)
    • 3) each person's welfare is equally important

5. Generating Skills
   What other kinds of moral standards or decisions do you think logically flow from Bernardin's human life ethic? E.g., do you agree with Richard Woods that this ethic requires viewing smoking as morally wrong? What other behaviors would you connect with this ethic? (Individual write)
6. Integrating Skills
   How do the moral standards flowing from this consistent life ethic actualize Bernardin's religious beliefs? (Cf. "Transformations" article.)
7. Evaluating Skills
   What is your assessment of Bernardin's proposal of the consistent human life ethic? What do you see as its strengths and weaknesses? (Individual write)