Ethical Studies

Common/shared values

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:09:27 +0000

I have been thinking about these again. I feel that often people talk about shared values without articulating them very much. Google the phrase and you get some quite different views on what they might be. Some take a more secular approach. Liberty, the human rights group sees human rights themselves as an expression of shared values. Click here to watch some of their short videos on these. The Guardian Newspaper ran a series on something called citizen ethics with contributions from scholars and writers. These took a rather more critical and virtue based approach. Neither of these say very much about religious and philosophical differences however and the perceived sense of civilizational clash. Other approaches seem more inclusive of religious perspectives. Runzo has written something interesting here. There is an interesting Scottish attempt called values in harmony and there is the statement by the Parliament of World Religions called Towards a Global Ethic.

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Environmental Ethics at York St John

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:54:51 +0000

I enjoyed meeting the students who came to the Thinking Conference at York St John University last week. The questions were good too. I had talked a little about applying theories to environmental ethics . I had mentioned that I though Kant’s centrality of the person and the necessity of universalizability was helpful in understanding why we should be just in not pursing industrial policies that harmed others living in low lying parts of the world which suffer from rising sea levels. It seems to me that the Categorical imperative is a really helpful way of thinking about about responsibilities, our duties to others, and the need to follow ourselves the rules about how we develop. I think Kant wants us to think foreward to the Kingdom of Ends and so the future matters. So we must not only think about the here and now. But I still think we need habit forming ethics to help deal with the practical problem of how to get people to live more simple lives.

You can download the talk here.

In one of the feedbacks someone raged about Gaia theory. If you are out there and want to make a point, this is what this site is for.

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Puzzle of God by Peter Vardy

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:26:37 +0000

The Puzzle of God
By Peter Vardy (FOUNT:UK,1990)
ISBN 0 00 599223 – 0

Peter Vardy was described by Theology as “a gifted communicator. He is the best popularizer of philosophy of religion currently working in Britain.”. This book provides a readable introduction to the Philosophy of religion covering all the classic arguments and discussions. There are questions for each section and a reading. It is suitable for A Level and should be considered for your class sets.

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The Oxford Companion to Philosophy by Honderich

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:38:19 +0000

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy

edited by Ted Honderich (OUP:Oxford, 1996)

ISBN 0-19-866132-0

The Observer described it as “that rarest on things: a philosophical work that is genuinely entertaining … by far the best – and best value – philosophical reference book on the market.” Another excellent contribution to the reference shelf.

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The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers by Urmson et al

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:37:15 +0000

The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers

Ed J.O. Urmson & Jonathan Ree (Routledge, London, 1991)

ISBN 0415078830

An alternative paperback dictionary of philosophy with readable definitions, adequate for students and teachers who don’t want to splash out on the more expensive titles.

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Dictionary of Philosophy by Flew

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:36:08 +0000

Dictionary of Philosophy

Ed Anthoney Flew (PAN: London, 1979)

ISBN 0330283596

A very helpful paperback dictionary of philosophy with readable definitions, adequate for students and teachers who don’t want to splash out on the more expensive titles.

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Philosophy in practice by Morton

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:35:03 +0000

Philosophy in practice, an introduction to the main questions

by Adam Morton, (BLACKWELL: Oxford, 1996)

A very different kind of introductory philosophy textbook, focussing on activities rather than simply theories. It is very well suited to A Level teachers and students and makes for interesting lessons as it is activity based. As each chapter progresses easy explanations move on to harder ones with activities sewn into the progression.

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A Companion to the Philosophy of Religion by Quinn et al.

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:34:25 +0000

A Companion to the Philosophy of Religion

Edited by Philip L. Quinn and Charles Taliaferro

(BLACKWELLS, Oxford, 1997)

ISBN 0-631-21328-7

An essential addition to the Reference shelf for teachers with articles from many authors on all the mian topics.

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How to Understand God by Morin

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:32:45 +0000

How to Understand God

by Dominque Morin (SCM Press: London, 1990)

ISBM 0-334-024-51-x

An excellent resource and candidate for class sets with chapters onteh Philosophical approach, the histiry of God, the influence of the modern world on images of God today, God and Science, Human freedom, proofs for the existence of God, and Evil. It has readable text on the topics and longer extracts from many key sources making it very valuable.

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Philosophy of Religion by Richards

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:30:54 +0000

Philosophy of Religion

By H J Richards (Heinemann:Oxford, 2000)

ISBN 0-435-30259-0

Designed to be accesible to students covering the key topics for Philsoohy of Religion this text book is a useful contribution inlcuding many short queotes from the classic thinkers, short texts introducing the main issues for all the classic topics. Chapters include God talk, the arguments for teh existence of God, the Nature of God, Religious Experience, Evil, Science, Miracles, The Afterlife, and the death of God. A useful book especially for starting off enquiries and very usefl at AS.

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