On Ethics
Thanks to Dr. Jim West for bringing an essay by Professor Philip Davies to my attention. In it, Davies claims:
Ethics develop in a society where individuals have to make their own moral judgments about intrinsic goodness. […]
[T]he Bible cannot serve a modern democracy as a moral guide — unless of course we decide ourselves, on or own ethical principles, which bits of it we will follow and which ones we will not.
In other words, according to Davies, “ethics” is when we decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. I’m curious how many people belive this.
Of these two options:
1. “Ethics” means I have to choose what’s right and wrong.
2. “Ethics” means I have to discover what’s right and wrong.
what do you believe?
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God Didn’t Say That (@GodDidntSayThat) is an online forum for discussing the Bible and its translations, mistranslations, interpretations, and misinterpretations.
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman is the chief translator for the ten-volume series My People’s Prayer Book, author of And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning, and editor of The Unabridged Bible. Writing under “J.M. Hoffman,” he is author of the thriller series The Warwick Files. He holds a PhD in theoretical linguistics and has taught at Brandeis University and HUC-JIR in New York City. He presents widely to churches, synagogues, and other groups. more…
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Does it have to be one or the other?
Does it have to be one or the other?
In one sense, I think so. Either morality is out there, waiting to be discovered (like science), or it’s a matter of my opinion (like art).
But I suppose that even once discovered, ethical behavior has to be chosen, so perhaps I should have phrased (1) as “I get to decide what’s right and wrong.”
Hi Joel,
A bit of both, I suppose. In any case, I think Davies is all wet, though I admire his style. I’ve replied in kind here:
http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/ancient_hebrew_poetry/2009/09/philip-davies-a-smackdown-.html
[…] Joel Hoffman takes up this quote and rightly questioned Davies’ suggestion that ethics are developed simply when a society decides upon a set of moral principles is a rather dim and limiting view of ethics, and certainly very relativistic. […]
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