ROSALES WESLEYAN BIBLE COLLEGE INC.
ZAMBRANO STREET, SAN PEDRO WEST ROSALES PANGASINAN 2441
BRIX M. GABRIEL
MODULE 6 Christian Ethics
ACTIVITY 6
As you have read the topic discussed by Dr. James M. Grier, write an outline below the important
things he said about ethics.
The first is done for you.
A. Major ideas that belong to the discipline of Ethics
a. Theory of obligation- basis of what a person should and should not do
b. Theory of value- has to answer what makes something good or bad?
c. Theory of motivation- what makes the person do things whether good or bad, or goes
into his mind as he performs or decides things whether acceptable or not acceptable.
1. KIND of METHODS in Deciding what kind of ethic a person ought to hold
a. Authoritarianism – The person decides what authority he will accept.
Criteria in Determining which authority should be trusted:
a.1 Antiquity – the older the authority is, the more apt it is to be right. And the newer
authority is the more prone it is to error.
a.2 Number – the more people hold the authority, the more it is right. Majority is always
right.
a.3 Prestige – the more prestige or famous person holds the authority, the more it is
right.
b. Scientific Method – evaluating all ethical theories by applying all of the criteria that
belongs to the hypothesis structure of inductive inference.
Criteria for Evaluating Theories:
b.1 – The theory that best explains the phenomena without using ad hoc devices.
b.2 – Comparing the rival theories; the one that does a better job in explaining the
theory.
b.3 – Positive reasons in favor of the theory; the one that can answer adequately
serious objections.
c. Whole influence of the Analytical Tradition – The stress or emphasis is on the
meaning of language and words.
The language games:
c.1 Fact Language Game – there are set of rules and everybody knows about it.
c.2 Love Language Game – the person has the right not to say or not to inform his
loved-ones about his data.
c.3 Religious Language Game – it is the conversation which God and His acts are the
objects.
2. Areas of Ethics:
a. Obligation – What is the person’s obligation.
b. Value – What a person’s values should be
c. Motivation – What kind of motivation the person should experience
3. CAUSAL Antecedents of the Moral Revolt in Western Culture:
ROSALES WESLEYAN BIBLE COLLEGE INC.
ZAMBRANO STREET, SAN PEDRO WEST ROSALES PANGASINAN 2441
A. Philosophical Shift in the post-Renaissance world.
a.1 The Autonomy of Human Will – man’s will is unconditioned; no antecedent of
the action; no standard by which it can be judged
a.2 The Ultimacy of Process – there is nothing fixed; everything is in the midst of
change and process; no absolute values and no absolute moral commands.
B. Growth of Philosophical Ideas & Systems – it is committed to ethical relativism. All
forms of scientific reductionism reduce reality to one level.
C. Growth of Scientific, Psychological and Cultural Anthropology – mas has lived
under many conditions and there is no continuity.
D. Education – Education was the messiah; producing an educated rational culture so
people could live together in peace, have confidence and harmony with each other.
E. Scientific and Technological Revolution - The rapid change in technology has
brought the culture to change more and more.
4. JOHN DEWEY’s Contribution in Ethical Relativism
He divorced values and facts.
a. Values – it is subjective
b. Facts – it is objective