...Discuss Glauber Rocha’s approach to violence and morality in God and the Devil in the Land of Sun. Glauber Rocha’s purpose as a filmmaker, as he explains, has always been to contribute to the creation of a cinema that is genuinely Brazilian, based on national features, which can facilitate the social and political awareness required for the transformation of Brazil as a country. In the course of forming an identity for a new national cinema, which sought to deviate from the conventions of the Hollywood model, Glauber Rocha often employs themes such as hunger, violence and morality. These, in their most true-to-life forms, consolidate the harshness of the reality that permeates Brazil, particularly the Northern area, and differentiates from the idealistic American archetype. Notably in his film ‘God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun’ the aesthetics of violence and hunger is connected with the transformation of an established order or situation. The formula for this violence is different, in terms of its realisation, from the ones that are evident in American movies, where there is a strong emphasis on the confrontation between good and evil and a tendency to depict characters with supernatural capabilities. In Glauber Rocha’s film, violence is part of a social process; it is historically conditioned by the horror, the calamity and the crisis that pervades the north-eastern part of Brazil. The film is a sort of investigation or criticism of this area, and throughout...
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...Good Without God? | Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Religion Can Morality Exist Without Religion? | | Rajoo Kamal-Wilnoff (10781867)Sociology 321.3, Section X01Professor Bryan PukMay 28, 2014 | “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” – Isaac Asimov | Can We Be Good Without God? Can we be good without God? The question has been a controversial one throughout history and a variety of positions are apparent regarding the relationship between religion and morality. Theists undoubtedly find in God a source of moral strength and resolve which enables them to live lives that are better than those that they would live without Him, but it would seem arrogant and ignorant to claim that those who do not share a belief in God do not often live good moral lives. Should the question really be about the objectivity of moral values, and whether said moral values are simply social conventions, or mere expressions of personal preference? Are they valid independently of our apprehension of them, and if so, what is their foundation? Moreover, if morality is just a human convention, then why should we act morally, especially when it conflicts with self-interest? Are we in some way held accountable for our moral decisions and actions? This paper explores the ontological claim that the morality does not require religion, religious motivation or guidance to exist, based on the opposing views presented in two essays “Religion, Morality and Conscience”...
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...Examine the View that Morality is Dependent on Religion. (21 Marks) There are three main views for Morality and religion: Morality is dependent on religion, morality is Independent of religion and morality is opposed to religion. There is a myriad of reasons for and against each of these statements. Many people do believe that morality does depend on religion for reasons such as that western law was originally based on Biblical principles, for example stealing and murder. For many however the question is how morality should be linked with religious faith, even though this causes problems between secularists and religious believers. The view I’m going to explore mainly in this essay is the view that ‘morality is dependent on religion’. People who believe that religion and morality are linked would argue that you cannot have morality without religion and that all rules come from God as he is the source of Religion. This is backed up by the fact that even social laws created to run western countries are taken from religious books such as, the Bible. Many people who believe the statement morality is dependent on religion would be Absolutists and believe that we should never question moral codes or there is ever a time when moral codes should be lenient. Absolutists would have no emotion to a situation and would therefore condemn situation ethics as they would believe the answer to a problem is always the same no matter the situation. This is because an absolutist would...
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...Can one be moral and not believe in God? Student’s Name Title of Course Instructor’s Name Date Can one be moral and not believe in God? The question as to whether one can have moral values and still believe there is no God is seemingly a puzzling query. In essence, it is proficient to commence with defining what moral values are. Morals are simply defined as the principles of wrong and right behaviors. An individual with high moral values knows the right things, and literally does and says the right things at the right time, with the right person, and utilizing the right materials. Believing in God or spiritual being is when an individual devotes their commitment to God or supernatural being in faith, expressions, worship, and conscientiousness. When one believes in God or a spiritual being, such could potentially play a great role on their moral behaviors. On the other hand, many people suppose that if one does not believe in a spiritual being or God, it is very hard for them to have moral values. However, there are also other people that suppose that having moral values do not necessarily require one to believe in God or spiritual beings[1]. What’s more, there also other people that suppose that believing in God or spiritual beings is not necessarily required for one to have moral values, but all they require is to belief in oneself, practice good ethics, as well as the knowledge of knowing and distinguishing the...
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... | |Is God required as the basis for Ethical Justification | |Philosophy 116 | | | |Saadia Farhat | | | | | Saadia Farhat PHIL 116 Professor Miceli May 1, 2010 Is God required as the basis for Ethical Justification? As I started to outline this paper and trying to separate my feelings and thoughts on the subject, as I wanted to write an impartial paper, I discovered many interesting facts. I believed there were two sides: Side A believing in God and with the platform that faith is needed to guide humans and provide proper morality, and Side B believing that God is not needed in the equations as we are masters of our destiny. Sounds simple right the faithful versus the...
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...(i) Examine the claim that religion and morality are linked (21) If we agree with Ninian Smart, then an important dimension of all the world religions is the ethical dimension. But this is not necessarily the same as saying that religion and morality are inextricably linked. A slightly different way of framing the question is to ask whether you can have morality without religion, as Dostoyevsky suggested when his character Ivan asserts that ‘if God does not exist then everything is permitted’. Broadly speaking there are 3 different approaches to the question that can be taken: 1) Morality depends on religion 2) Morality is independent of religion 3) Morality is opposed to religion The first approach is to argue that behaving morally means behaving in accordance with God’s will, so that morality cannot be separated from religion. For religious people moral behaviour and commitment to the religion are closely related to beliefs about salvation in the afterlife. They also point out that without religion there would be no morality because all moral codes are derived from religion, many of our most firmly held moral convictions can be traced back to religious morality, such as the prohibition against murder, homosexuality and adultery. One strength of divine command ethics is that they provide a set in stone moral law with clear guidelines for how you should and should not behave; which some people may get from the bible, or other holy texts. The rules can be applied...
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...Can we be good without God? There is no doubt that some valuable moral insights have been spread by religion. Religion seems to be a good place to start thinking of morality, but we cannot rely on God to tell us what is right morally and what is wrong. We should recognize that morality is based on human needs and interests, and not on God’s commands because they cannot be regarded as imposing moral obligations unless we already possess a sense of right and wrong independent of his commands. The claim that we need God to provide morality does not withstand analysis because it is the circumstances under which we live that influence the content of our norms, not divine commands. Morality is a human institution serving human needs, and the norms of the common morality will persist as long as there are humans around. (Lindsay.) God’s moral nature is expressed to us in the form of divine commands which compose our moral duties or obligations and holds all persons morally accountable for their actions .But on the atheistic view there is no divine lawgiver. But...
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...An atheist cannot be a moral person. Without faith in God, no human being can be moral at all. You must first have faith in God in order to have any capacity for morality. Faith in God is the only true basis of morality. Socrates: It sounds like being an atheist is an unfortunate state of being. Preacher: The atheists are most unfortunate Socrates. Socrates: Sadly, I am more unfortunate than the atheists. I do not even understand the nature of morality. Thus, I could not tell you whether or not you need to first believe in the gods in order to be moral. So I ask you to help me and teach me something important. Preacher: Of course, Socrates. That is why I am here. Socrates: Thank you my good friend. I would like you to answer a question. What is morality? Preacher: Morality is the expression of human behavior that is based on the knowledge of right and wrong. Socrates: And one must believe in the gods in order to know what is right and wrong? Preacher: Exactly. It is the knowledge of God, which comes through faith that gives us the ability to know right and wrong. And Socrates, there are no gods. There is only the one almighty God who created all things and redeems us through his son Jesus Christ. Socrates: I am afraid I have never been very good at understanding all the amazing stories about all the different gods. I must admit that I am very excited about the idea that knowing your God will also give me the knowledge of right and wrong. But...
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...how to relate God to morality. The theory states that God commands what is right and what is wrong. Though God does not press his rules upon us, it is said that “if we live as we should, then we must follow God’s laws.” (Rachels, pg. 51) Though someone might believe in the existence of God, it is possible they can reject the Divine Command Theory. With examples such as the Euthyphro question, the Arbitrariness objection, and God’s authority, it makes it possible to reject this theory. One positive outlook to the Divine Command Theory is that people don’t need to reason about what is right or wrong and they do not need to reply on emotions because what they need to do is follow God’s commands. For example, God has commanded to be kind to thy neighbor, so with that command, why listen to instincts when we can listen to the words of God? If God had commanded us to do one good deed per day, that’s what we must listen to, not our own basic instincts on the matter. One problem with the Divine Command Theory is made evident by the famous quote: “Is an act holy because the gods command it, or do the gods command an act because it is holy?” This question is known as the Euthyphro question. Socrates’s question is about “whether God makes the moral truths true or whether he merely recognizes that they’re true.” (Rachels, pg. 52) As you can see, each of the dilemma’s horns presents a problem for the Divine Command Theory. If what is morally good is commanded by God because it is morally...
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...The existence of God has been a controversial topic discussed by philosophers over many centuries. One of the arguments for God’s existence comes from the belief that the type of God that would exist is an all just and all-knowing supernatural being that has laid down objective moral laws for humans to follow. This is called the moral argument. In this paper I argue that the moral arguments does not stand against objections when trying to prove God’s existence. This paper has five parts beginning with a thorough outline and explanation of the moral argument (1). Next I will present four objections and the theists reply to them. First is that morality doesn’t depend on God’s existence only the belief in God (2). Second, that one cannot be truly...
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...believed that morality can only be understood by religion. It is believed that religion is the basic foundation and the code they accept to set their moral aspects of life. Any non religious views only depict the world as a realm that is in complete chaos. The idea behind an all loving God and the ultimate rule maker of the moral code describes the theory of Divine Command. The Divine Command Theory states that the question of what is morally right is a matter of being commanded by God and morally wrong is a matter of being forbidden by God. This is basically saying when ethics and morality comes into question, following Gods commands is the only way of being right. Inquiring that God is all knowing which consists of possessing wisdom beyond any other, people believe God is never wrong. There is also the notion that God is the creator of all human beings and the world was created in his image; therefore all the rules set by our creator seems to be the only rules that make absolute sense. In religious views, God created women for men, going back to the idea of Adam and Eve. When looking at homosexuality, it isn’t wrong for the disturbing views or the argument that it is against procreation, it is solely wrong because God himself said it is wrong. If a believer in the Divine Command Theory, you would understand that what God commands is ultimately right both morally and ethically. Plato makes his argument against the idea that right and wrong actions are commanded by gods. The theory...
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...Forced into Morality Cesar Galvez One may wonder what society would be like if people did not follow any sort of moral codes. People would not feel any guilt for any wrong-doing. Obligations, awareness of duty, and rights would not exist, perhaps in only the legal sense. Thankfully, most, if not all, human inherited rules of right and wrong that were not given by anyone, they are inherent morals that each human is given. However, another way a person can look at morality is religion. Furthermore, there is a considerable amount of people that believe morality and religion are fundamentally linked. According to Landau (2010), “Religion has always been the most popular source of morality.” (Landau, 2010, p.61). Humanist, atheist, and agnostics cannot identify a connection between religion and morality, arguing that is possible to be moral without a religious status. However, others argue that ethics and religion are inseparable. Religion creates a moral motivation to seek a greater moral life. If believers desire a better life and afterlife and continue to follow the religious beliefs, “God deeds will be rewarded, if not here on earth, then in another worldly paradise.” (Landau, 2010, p.62). Therefore, believers have strong reasons to be moral. According to Wainwright (2005), “Religious belief is necessary for moral motivation.” (Wainwright, 2005, p.4). On the other hand, not only motivation for a better life triggers the initiative to be moral. Fear has the...
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...pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" Translated, this question asks "Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?" In this essay I will explain and elaborate on the consequences of both options of the dilemma. The first choice of the dilemma (that which is morally good is commanded by God because it is morally good) suggests that there are independent moral standards, which God himself cannot alter. While this perspective gives purpose to the concept of morality, it challenges the properties and abilities of an omnipotent god such as the Christian god defined by the Bible. For instance, if moral standards exist that are independent from God, then there is something God himself cannot control. Instead of God controlling the known universe, God is instead controlled by these moral standards. In addition, God’s righteousness depends upon how closely he follows these moral standards. Therefore, God is restricted in his power and denied his free will if he is to be righteous. Secondly, if moral standards exist that are independent of God, then morality would maintain its authenticity without the need of a God. In this view, God is not the creator of moral laws, but instead only carries the message of what is moral to his followers. The later role is far less significant than the former, and goes against the usual conception of God. The second choice...
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...regard, they stood on common ground. Both realized that no system of philosophy operates in isolation of its creators inherent prejudices. Any subjective viewpoint is biased; therefore, objectivity is impossible in any moral example. They both recognized that God no longer exists in religion in present-day expression. Men and women go about their daily lives in a manner irreverent of the possibility that there is an all-powerful God governing their affairs. Surprisingly, they proclaim their devotion to God when questioned about it. However, in their attempts to resolve this moral affliction Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are different in their quest for a cure. The very foundations of their moral constitutions were built upon conflicting ideologies: Kierkegaard put his in Christianity, while Nietzsche’s in individualism and self-determination. Kierkegaard saw the problem of religious downfall as an opportunity for renewal in Christian beliefs. Kierkegaard was born May 5, 1813 in Kopenhagen Denmark and died November 11, 1885. Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, religious author, and considered the first existentialist philosopher of all time. Soren Kierkegaard was a Christian man who believed in the Will of God. Nietzsche was born...
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...Morality is a separate and distinct being from god they are however symbiotic of each other however it is shown that god doesn’t always follow morality so it can’t possibly be greater than him It could be argued that morality exists separately from god as murder is innately wrong in humanity people detest and are sickened by such actions it is encoded in our human psychology to think murder is wrong if you see a person bleeding you think it is an emergency and act in such a manner as an attempt to preserve life Plato’s form of the good and god in the bible are very similar they are both sources of goodness also they aren’t physical beings and are instead transcendent existing on a different plain from our existence however the form of the...
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