Mapping the Ethical Experience

Question 1

Define morality.

Answer 1

A system of right conduct based on fundamental beliefs and obligation to follow certain codes, norms, customs, and habits of behaviour.

Question 2

Define revelation.

Answer 2

The ways that God makes Himself known to human kind, through Jesus Christ, Scripture, and all of creation.

Question 3

Define moral agent.

Answer 3

A person who acts freely and knowingly, who is accountable for his/her action.

Question 4

Define ethics.

Answer 4

A discipline that deals with the nature of the good, human person and criteria that we use for making right judgements.

Question 5

Define freedom.

Answer 5

The human capacity to choose and to act. I am free because I have possibilities and capacities to act on these possibilities.

Question 6

Define free will.

Answer 6

Freedom of choice offered to us by God.

Question 7

Define predestination.

Answer 7

The view that behavior is predetermined, whether by God or by other causes.

Question 8

Define responsibility.

Answer 8

The conviction that a person is the agent of his or her actions. This presupposes freedom, knowledge, and capability.

Question 9

Define human freedom.

Answer 9

We have the ability to freely and knowingly act and be accountable for our actions.

Question 10

Define naturalism.

Answer 10

Science reigns supreme. In other words, DNA defines who you are.

Question 11

Define determinism.

Answer 11

One’s human behavior is a product of a complex array of physical, social, cultural, psychological and historical causes.

Question 12

Do naturalism and determinism support the Christian concept of free will?

Answer 12

No, because both naturalism and determinism maintain that one’s being and one’s behavior are predetermined based upon DNA (naturalism) or external causes (determinism) and thus do not support the concept of freedom of choice and accountability for one’s freely chosen actions.

Question 13

Define conscience.

Answer 13

The place where we hold our own selves in our hands. Responds to the call to commit ourselves to value. Our capacity to know and do good; a process of moral reasoning.

Question 14

Define commitment.

Answer 14

Promise or pledge, resolve to carry out something in the future.

Question 15

Define Trinity.

Answer 15

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Question 16

Define narcissism.

Answer 16

A disorder marked by self-absorption to the exclusion of others.

Question 17

Define identity.

Answer 17

The distinguishing character of a person. My identity is determined in a large part by the moral stance that I take in life.

Question 18

Three senses of conscience.

Answer 18

1. Conscience as capacity is to know and do the good, and to avoid evil.
2. Conscience is a process of moral reasoning, knowing how to perceive accurately and think correctly.
3. Conscience is the concrete judgement of what I should do. It becomes my own when I act. I must obey this conscience to be true to myself.

Question 19

Six symptoms of a misinformed conscience.

Answer 19

1. Rationalization
2. Trivialization
3. Misinformation
4. The end justifies the means
5. Means to an end
6. Difficult to reason

Question 20

What are the steps to the Conceptual Framework of Action?

Answer 20

Created by Raul Ricoeur.

1. Who? (agent)
2. What? (the action)
3. Why? (the motive)
4. How? (with what means?)
5. With or against whom?
6. Under what circumstances?
7. With what outcome?

Question 21

Define artificial intelligence.

Answer 21

A principle that proposes that intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.

Question 22

Define mind-brain distinction.

Answer 22

Catholic tradition does not deny the discoveries of science or the connections between the mind and brain. The human mind is more than the physical functions. The mind has the capacity for freedom, choice, and action. The mind is the heart of human capacity.

Question 23

Define rationalism.

Answer 23

A philosophical theory that suggests that nothing can be accepted as true unless it can be proven by reason alone.

Question 24

What are Freud’s Life and Death Instincts.

Answer 24

Life instinct = Eros, Death instinct = Thanatos.

Question 25

What are six aspects of the human person?

Answer 25

1. The importance of others
2. The importance of direction in life.
3. The importance of communication and language
4. The importance of character and one’s body
5. The importance of conscience
6. The importance of the development of one’s conscience

Question 26

What are Freud’s views of conscience?

Answer 26

1. The Id; the unconscious instinctual drives (Caveman)
2. The Superego; Others views of right/wrong superimposed on us (e.g. parents)
3. Ego; Our own views of right and wrong and a willingness to accept responsibility for our choices

Question 27

What are the steps to conscience development?

Answer 27

1. Develops as you mature and determine your sense of right and wrong
2. Develops as you take account of and follow the norms, values and commandments
3. Develops as you participate in Eucharist and prayer life
4. Develops as you grow in the virtue of humility

Question 28

Judaism sacred text.

Answer 28

Hebrew Bible, Torah, and Talmud.

Question 29

Islam sacred text.

Answer 29

Holy Qur’an or Koran.

Question 30

Hinduism sacred text.

Answer 30

The Vedas (Book of Knowledge).

Question 31

Buddhism sacred text.

Answer 31

Tripitaka.

Question 32

Sikhism sacred text.

Answer 32

The Guru Granth Sahib.

Question 33

Taoism sacred text.

Answer 33

Tao Te Ching.

Question 34

The morality of human acts depends on:

Answer 34

1. The object chosen
2. The end view or the intention
3. The circumstances of the action