Program / Course 22: Christian Ethics / Lesson 1.1
What you will learn
- Define ethics, morality and moral philosophy in plain language.
- Distinguish three basic moral questions: what is good, what is right, and what kind of person a human being should be.
- Describe how Christian ethics differs from, and overlaps with, philosophical ethics.
- Recognize the difference between a moral claim, a factual claim and a matter of etiquette or taste.
The big idea
Ethics is the careful study of how human beings ought to live. It asks three connected questions: what is good, what is the right thing to do, and what sort of person to become. Different traditions weight these questions differently. Christian ethics adds that the answers are tied to who God is, who human beings are made to be, and what Christ has done. Studying ethics well means reasoning in public, giving reasons, and listening to those who disagree.
Key terms
- Ethics
- The systematic study of how people ought to live and act. The word comes from a Greek word, ethos, meaning character or custom.
- Morality
- The actual beliefs and practices about right and wrong held by a person or community. Ethics studies morality and asks whether it is justified.
- The good
- What is worth pursuing or having: a life, a goal, a state of affairs or a quality of character that is valuable in itself.
- The right
- What a person is obligated to do, or may not do, whatever the results. Questions of duty, rules and rights belong here.
- Virtue
- A stable quality of character, such as courage, honesty or mercy, that disposes a person to act well.
- Normative claim
- A claim about how things ought to be, as opposed to a descriptive claim about how things are.
- Moral philosophy
- The branch of philosophy that studies ethics by argument and reason. Christian moral theology studies the same subject with Scripture and the church’s teaching as sources.
Background
People make moral judgments every day without studying ethics. A child says that taking a toy is unfair. A worker feels that a boss has treated someone unjustly. A neighbor is praised as generous. Ethics begins when a person stops and asks why such judgments are true, whether they apply to everyone, and what to do when they conflict. The subject is old. Greek thinkers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle asked what the good life is. The Hebrew Scriptures ask how a people should live under God’s law. Christian writers from the first centuries combined both streams.
Modern courses often speak of three families of theory. Some theories focus on outcomes and ask which action produces the best results. Some focus on duties and rules and ask what is owed to others whatever the results. Some focus on character and ask what a good person is like. Christian thinkers have used all three kinds of insight. Most Christian traditions hold that the three are not rivals so much as three angles on one reality: a good God, who made human beings for a good end, gave them law to guide them and virtues to carry them there. Not every Christian would put it exactly that way, and the next lessons show where traditions diverge.
This course studies Christian ethics fairly. It describes Catholic natural-law teaching, Orthodox moral theology, Protestant approaches and secular philosophy as their own holders would state them. It does not tell the student what to conclude on contested questions. It tries to show what each side is trying to protect, so that a reader can disagree without caricature.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Three questions
The first question is about the good: what makes a life go well, and what is worth wanting? Aristotle answered that the good for a human being is a flourishing life lived in accordance with reason and virtue. Christians have typically answered that the highest good is God himself, known and loved. Augustine’s famous line that the heart is restless until it rests in God expresses this view. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, a Reformed statement, says the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
The second question is about the right: what must be done, and what must never be done? Here the Ten Commandments, the golden rule and the philosophical idea of human rights all belong. A claim about the right usually has the force of an obligation. It is not just advice about how to be happy.
The third question is about the virtuous: what kind of person should one become? Scripture speaks of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Greek and Christian writers speak of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, courage and temperance, and of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
Step 2: Telling moral claims from other claims
A factual claim says what is the case: that a fetus has a heartbeat at a certain stage, or that a drug reduces pain. A moral claim says what ought to be done. A claim of etiquette or taste says what a community prefers, such as which fork to use. Many arguments go wrong by mixing these up. A person may agree on every fact and still disagree about what to do, because the disagreement is moral. Or two people may think they disagree morally when they actually disagree about a fact.
Philosophers often note that one cannot move from a plain description to a moral conclusion without some moral premise. This is sometimes called the is-ought problem, associated with David Hume. Whether and how it can be answered is itself debated, and a later lesson returns to it.
Step 3: Where Christian ethics begins
Christian ethics starts from claims about God, creation, sin, Christ and the church. Humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). They have fallen and need redemption. They are called into a community. Because of these claims, Christian ethics is not only a list of rules. It is also a way of speaking about what a person is for.
Christians disagree about how much of ethics can be known by reason alone and how much needs revelation. Catholic teaching holds that the basic moral law can be known by reason, though revelation clarifies and completes it. Many Protestants, especially in the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, agree that there is a moral knowledge available to all, but stress that sin darkens it. Orthodox writers tend to speak less in terms of law and more in terms of healing and growth in communion with God. These differences are the subject of the next lessons.
Step 4: Reasons in public
Ethics is done with reasons. A person who says only that something is wrong, with no reason, has stated a feeling or an authority claim, not made an argument. Christians appeal to Scripture, tradition, conscience and reason in various proportions. Secular philosophers appeal to reason, experience and shared intuitions. A fair student asks of every view: what are its reasons, what does it assume, and what would count against it?
The study also needs humility. History shows that sincere Christians and sincere philosophers have defended practices later judged gravely wrong, and have also been the first to condemn injustices around them. That record is a reason to hold conclusions with care, without giving up on moral truth.
- Is this claim about what is the case, what ought to be done, or what a group prefers?
- Which of the three questions, the good, the right or the virtuous, is mainly at stake?
- What reason is being given, and does it actually support the conclusion?
- What would a thoughtful person who disagrees say is being protected by their view?
- Does the claim depend on a religious premise, and if so, can that premise be stated openly?
- What practical difference would it make in a real person’s life if the claim were true?
Examples
Fact, value or etiquette
Three statements: “Most restaurants in the region close at ten.” “It is wrong to break a promise.” “It is rude to arrive at a dinner party with no word of thanks.” The first is factual. The second is moral. The third is about social custom, though it may rest on a moral idea of gratitude. (A constructed example.)
Three angles on one act
A shopkeeper finds that a customer has overpaid. The outcome view asks what will happen if he keeps or returns the money. The duty view asks what is owed to the customer. The virtue view asks what an honest person does and what keeping the money would make of him. All three may agree here. In harder cases they may not. (A constructed example.)
Same fact, different conclusion
Two people agree that a certain medical treatment will extend a patient’s life by three months and cause great discomfort. One concludes that it should be offered, the other that it may be declined. The disagreement is about what the patient owes to life and to comfort, not about the medicine. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
The Catholic tradition, following Thomas Aquinas, holds that human beings are made for happiness in God and that reason can discover a moral order built into human nature, called the natural law. Revelation, the teaching of the church and the sacraments complete this. Moral theology is therefore a rational discipline that also depends on faith.
Orthodox
Orthodox writers usually describe the moral life as part of theosis, a growing union with God by grace. Ethics is bound up with prayer, fasting, the sacraments and the example of the saints. Orthodox theologians are often wary of systematic ethical codes and prefer to speak of passions to be healed and virtues to be cultivated, while still holding firm moral teaching.
Protestant
Protestant approaches vary. Reformed and Lutheran traditions emphasize the moral law as given in Scripture and as known in part by conscience, and stress that justification by faith leads to grateful obedience. Anabaptist and some other traditions place the Sermon on the Mount and the example of Jesus at the center. Evangelical and Wesleyan traditions often stress holiness and a transformed life.
Secular philosophy
Many secular philosophers hold that ethics can be studied without appeal to God. Some argue that moral truths are objective, others that morality depends on human attitudes or agreements. Secular thinkers also include those who share much Christian moral content, such as respect for persons, and those who criticize Christian morality as too restrictive. Each deserves to be read in its own terms.
Why it matters
Almost every later question in this course, from war to medicine to technology, depends on the framework introduced here. A student who can tell a moral claim from a factual one, and who knows whether an argument is about outcomes, duties or character, can follow a debate without being carried along by slogans. The same skill protects against caricature, since it becomes easier to see what an opponent is trying to protect.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Ethics is just personal opinion.
Correction: Some philosophers hold that moral claims are expressions of attitude, but many hold they can be true or false, and nearly all Christian traditions do. Even those who doubt objectivity still give reasons and expect them to be weighed. The question of objectivity is taken up directly in a later lesson.
Misunderstanding: Christian ethics is only a list of rules.
Correction: Rules matter, but all major Christian traditions also speak of virtues, love, grace and the formation of character. The Sermon on the Mount, for example, concerns the heart as well as the act.
Misunderstanding: Secular ethics has nothing in common with Christian ethics.
Correction: They often agree on conclusions such as the wrongness of cruelty and the value of honesty, though they usually give different foundations for these. Where they differ, the differences can be stated fairly without assuming bad faith.
Misunderstanding: To study opposing views is to approve of them.
Correction: Describing a position accurately is not endorsing it. Accurate description is a requirement of honest disagreement.
Knowledge check
What are the three basic questions of ethics introduced in this lesson?
The question of the good asks what is worth pursuing, including the best kind of life. The question of the right asks what duties and limits bind a person. The question of the virtuous asks what kind of character a person should develop. Traditions weight these differently, but most Christian thought uses all three.
Why does it matter to tell a factual claim from a moral claim?
People can agree on all the facts and still disagree about what to do, because the disagreement is about values or duties. Mixing the two leads to arguments where each side thinks the other is ignorant or dishonest, when the real issue is a moral premise that needs to be stated and examined.
How might Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant approaches differ in emphasis?
Catholic teaching stresses natural law, which reason can discover, completed by revelation. Orthodox writers stress healing and union with God through prayer and the sacraments. Protestant traditions vary but often stress Scripture, the moral law and grateful obedience, or in some traditions the example of Jesus. All affirm that morality is bound up with God.
What is the is-ought problem?
It is the observation, associated with David Hume, that descriptions of what is do not by themselves yield conclusions about what ought to be. A moral premise is needed. Philosophers disagree about whether this is a decisive objection to some moral theories or a problem that can be answered.
Think it through
- Think of a moral disagreement you have had. Was it about facts, about values, or about both?
- Which of the three questions, the good, the right or the virtuous, comes most naturally to you? What might you be neglecting?
- What is a belief of yours about right and wrong that you hold mainly because of your upbringing? What reasons could support it?
- What would a fair-minded person who disagrees with you say is the strongest part of their view?
Independent assignment
Sorting moral statements
In your notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Choose six statements about a public issue from a news article or a conversation. Mark each as factual, moral or a matter of custom. For the moral ones, say whether the main concern is the good, the right or the virtuous, and write one sentence on the reason given or the reason that is missing. End by stating one moral claim of your own and the strongest reason you can offer for it. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Virtue Ethics Read the opening sections to see how virtue ethics compares with duty and outcome theories.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Read the opening questions of the Second Part on happiness and the last end of man.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Read the first chapters of Book 1 for an accessible argument that moral claims are more than preference.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the opening of the Third Part on life in Christ for the Catholic statement of the human vocation.
- Genesis 1:27 Humanity made in the image of God.
- Micah 6:8 What the Lord requires: justice, mercy and humility.
- Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit.