Moral Philosophy What Moral Compass

¶ … Moral Philosophy What moral compass do you use: Kohlberg's Moral Reasoning, a professional Code of Ethics, or God's word? The most important moral guidance in my life are God's principles more so than their literal interpretations by man. Since entering Kohlberg's post-conventional stage of moral reasoning, it has become more difficult for me to accept interpretations of God's words that seem to conflict with fundamental principles of God's love.

Where such conflicts seem to exist, I apply my most genuine attempt to reconcile the apparent discrepancies and I do what seems to be most consistent with God's principles. What is your trump card? My trump card is the principle of do unto others. In my experience, this is the most important of God's principles with respect to human relations and also to the way we treat all living things.

In every respect, I try to remember to reverse situations in my mind and imagine circumstances as though I were on the receiving end of my contemplated behavior. 3. What governs your behavior? In principle, the Golden Rule governs my behavior more than any other concept in human affairs. I try to be truthful and considerate, and as fair as possible to my fellow man at all times and to remind myself that none of us is perfect or above making mistakes.

I try to treat others as I would have them treat me at all times. 4. What reasons do you give for your choices? Generally, I try to make sure that my choices are the product of objective principles and never the product of self-interest. Likewise, I try to uphold any values or standards that I expect of others and I try to understand the same failings in others of which I am capable as well. 5.

Why do you think an Evangelical University has such a huge problem with blatant cheating and plagiarism? If I had to guess (without passing judgment), I would imagine that plagiarism is a problem because students rationalize their behavior.

They may figure that "everyone else is doing it" or they may rationalize that their plagiarism is "not hurting anybody." More generally, I would imagine that students who cheat in any way have lost sight of the fact that the main purpose of their education is to learn and that grades are secondary to that goal. 6. What moral code might those students be following? I would hesitate to assume that their cheating is necessarily a function of their moral code.

I would imagine that many of them subscribe generally to the same moral code as mine but that, like many people, they rationalize their way around rules that are inconvenient to follow. Review the Feldman reading this week about euthanasia and assisted suicide as well as the online article on Christ's physical death. Many argue that assisted suicide or euthanasia is justified because it relieves a person from suffering.

What are your thoughts about euthanasia, given what Christ did for us? If I had the liberty of being perfectly honest about my own genuine response to the issue, I would have to admit that I still do not understand the conceptual relevance of Christ's suffering to a living person's moral right to spare himself or herself from suffering when the only escape is death.

To me, allowing a person to escape intractable pain is much more consistent with the notion of God's love and compassion than requiring a person to endure pain against his or her will. Christ did not choose to suffer; his suffering was forced upon him by the wrongful and wicked acts of others.

For that reason alone, I am unable to understand the logical connection between Christ's suffering and ours or the logical reason that I should have to endure suffering without a purpose for no other reason than the fact that Christ (undoubtedly) suffered horribly. If my suffering had a specific purpose, such as saving another from worse suffering or sparing another's life, there could be a reason that my suffering should be endured.

However, where my physical suffering affects only me, particularly in circumstances where my death is inevitable anyway, (such as in the.