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Teacher Resource Bank
GCE Religious Studies
Explanation of Terms
Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
EXPLANATION OF TERMS
GCE Religious Studies Unit B Religion and Ethics 2
Term
Definition
absolutism
In ethics, the view that moral rules have a complete and universal
authority that derives either from God, or from the internal authority /
consistency of the rule.
anthropomorphism
Something is anthropomorphic if it ascribes human characteristics to
something non-human, or if it judges another species by human
criteria. So, for example, animals are often judged by their ability to
reason and to be moral, by which criteria they appear to fall
lamentably short of human standards (as in Natural Law and in
Kantian ethics). Anthropomorphic thinking therefore can be used
(and has often been used) to justify cruelty to all non-human species
on a massive scale. Opposed to it is the view that all species are
alternative and equally valid evolutionary pathways, and that since
the environment as a whole is interconnected and interdependent,
anthropomorphism is a destructive and self-defeating anachronism.
antinomian
In ethics, an antinomian stance is one which opposes basing morality
on fixed and immovable laws – in other words it is anti-legalistic.
a posteriori
Sentences / propositions / judgements are a posteriori (literally ‘after’)
when their truth depends on how our experience / observation turns
out.
a priori
Sentences / propositions / judgements are a priori (literally ‘before’)
when their truth is not dependent on sense experience. Many
philosophers hold that maths is a priori, because no sense
experience is needed to know that 1+1 = 2, but some dispute this.
analytic
Analytic statements are true by definition, e.g. a bicycle has two
wheels. Here the predicate says something necessary about the
subject. Since mathematical statements are also said to be true by
the terms used, ‘1+1 = 2’ is often said to be analytic a priori.
autonomous
Literally self-law, e.g. Kant’s statement that moral law is autonomous
means that it has its own authority.
basic goods
A term used in Finnis’ version of natural law ethics. Finnis suggests
seven basic goods by which the good life can be lived: life,
knowledge, play, aesthetics, sociability, practical reasonableness,
and religion. Finnis thinks these are self-evidently good, and that
they are the motivation behind, and the goal of, action.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
best possible world
theory
This is the view that since God created the world, the creation must
reflect the perfection of the Creator; hence it must be (or must have
been) perfect, and must be the best possible world. Any apparent
deficiencies (such as evil) relate to the Creator’s purpose. For
Swinburne, this is ‘a’ best possible world, since the Creator would be
under no obligation to create one best possible world when in fact
there may be many types of best possible world.
biodiversity
On one level, this means the variation of life at all levels of biological
organisation. On another level, the health of a biological system is
often measured by the diversity of organisms within it. The latter is
the general sense in which it is used in environmental ethics,
including diversity among both species and ecosystems.
bioethics
This refers to the ethics of the biological sciences and medicine, and
covers a huge range of ideas and subjects. It deals with the
relationships between the life sciences, medicine and biotechnology
on one side, and politics, law, philosophy and religion on the other.
casuistry
Casuistry is the practice of applying moral principles to particular
cases, or types of case. It can be contrasted with situational
approaches to ethics, which consider each moral situation as it arises.
categorical
imperative
Categorical imperatives are laws whose forces are absolute and
undeniable, e.g. ‘Do not murder’, ‘Honour your parents’, etc. Their
force is discernible by contrasting them with the weak command in
hypothetical imperatives.
categorical
imperativism
Kant’s theory of ethics is often given this name, in so far as it rests on
reason identifying categorical imperatives for humans to obey.
causation
This is the relation between two things when the first thing is
necessary or sufficient, or both necessary and sufficient, for the
occurrence of the second thing. It is an important area of discussion,
coming mainly from David Hume, who argued that we cannot get our
ideas about cause either from reason or from observation.
common human
nature
In Natural Law Ethics, refers to Aquinas’ view that since all humans
have the same causal blueprint, we must have the same nature, so
once reason tells us what moral rules we should follow, they must be
followed ‘commonly’, i.e. by all.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
conscience
Defined variously, Augustine referred to the conscience as an innate
faculty for knowing right from wrong which God puts into humans. It
cannot work unaided, but needs God’s ‘grace’ (so on his view, only
Christians (who know God) can be good. Aquinas derived a different
understanding of the matter from Aristotle’s account of immediate and
final causes / ends; the final ends of being human are reason and
morality, so these are inbuilt drives which give us the conscience as
an innate wish to do good and to avoid evil. Others explain the
conscience through evolution (as a developed internal mechanism
which encourages your continued existence by prodding you to keep
to a few rules designed to keep you out of trouble), or sociology
(conscience is a societal control mechanism which keeps society in a
relatively ordered state), or psychology (e.g. Freud’s view that
conscience is the super-ego, i.e. the repository of parental and other
influences from childbirth on).
creatio continua
The doctrine that God’s creation is ongoing, either because creation
develops and moves towards its ultimate goal, or because God’s
creative powers are needed constantly in order to sustain the
universe.
creatio ex nihilo
The doctrine that God created ‘out of nothing’, e.g. by words of
creative power. The doctrine is possibly true theologically, but its
common application to explain God’s creative acts in the Hebrew
scriptures, in Genesis 1, is probably erroneous, since those verses
more probably assume a pre-existent universe.
deep ecology
Deep Ecology thinks that most environmental and green movements
do not go far enough in their demands that the environment should be
respected. It claims that all living things, human or otherwise, have
the same right to live and flourish. Humans are simply one part of the
ecosphere, and have no claim to primacy. Hence deep ecology is
‘deep’ because it is concerned with fundamental questions about life
as a whole, and because it contrasts itself with ‘surface’
environmentalism.
deontological ethics
Duty-based ethics, which emphasise right intention, motive and will
as opposed to right consequences.
dominion
This refers to the view that the scriptures give humans power over
animals and the environment, as opposed to theories of stewardship.
double effect
This is a doctrine devised to deal with moral conflicts in Natural Law
theory. It says that it is always wrong to do a bad act intentionally in
order to bring about good consequences, but it is sometimes
permissible to do a good act whilst at the same time knowing that it
will bring about bad consequences. In rough terms, this is sometimes
translated as, ‘Provided your intention is to follow the rule, you can
‘benefit’ from any unintended consequences’.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
dualism
The belief, articulated for example by Descartes, that humans are
made up from two ‘substances’ – material substance (matter) and
soul. Dualism is generally out of favour for two particular reasons:
(1) because the soul is by definition unquantifiable. How are we
supposed to locate it, or know it is there, or know that there is only
one soul in one body? (2) because nobody, from Descartes on, has
given a remotely satisfactory explanation of how a non-physical soul
is supposed to interact with a physical body.
duty
The central plank of Kant’s ethics. The Good Will’s only motive is to
act for the sake of duty. Duty is based on moral obligation as shown
by the categorical imperative, and it must not be confused with desire.
dysteleological
Aristotelian ethics, followed by Aquinas, assumes that human life has
a purpose, which is visible (somewhere) in human rationality and
morality. The problem of evil, for example, is usually offered as a
counter-argument to this in that evil is dysteleological, meaning that it
‘counts against purpose’. Similarly Dawkins’ allegedly ‘selfish genes’
have no purpose, but move blindly towards self-preservation,
developing humans as increasingly sophisticated and preservationcapable hosts (although teleologists do not always feel called upon to
rebut such an argument).
ecology
Ecology can be defined in several ways, e.g. as the relationship
between an organism and its environment. In environmental ethics, it
often means ‘environmentalism’, or ‘the natural environment’. Also,
the word ‘ecological’ is often used to mean ‘environmentally friendly’.
Technically, ecology is the study of living organisms: their number
and variety, how they interact with their environment, the climate,
other organisms, and so on.
ecosystem
An ecosystem refers to all the plants, animals and micro-organisms
functioning together as a defined unit, and it also refers to the nonbiological features of the system’s environment. ‘Ecosphere’ is often
used to mean the same thing, and biologists sometimes compete in
devising ecospheres which are complete, enclosed and very small, in
order to study their interactions at close quarters. In ethics,
ecosystems and ecospheres are often invoked to illustrate the
principle of biodiversity, and to show that if the system is unbalanced
by the removal of some of its parts (e.g. by culling predators in the
wild), then this has an adverse effect on all the other members of the
ecosystem; hence, for example, there has been much recent
discussion of the idea that wolves should be reintroduced into parts of
Europe.
efficient cause
In Aristotle’s system, taken over into Aquinas’ ethics, the efficient
cause is the thing which exists actually to make a potential cause
actual: e.g. fire is the efficient cause that turns wood into charcoal.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
Emotion / feelings
Emotions / feelings are sometimes held to be the basis for our ethical
decisions, e.g. in A.J. Ayer’s theory of Emotivism, which argues that
moral choices are based on emotional reactions to what we see. If
we dislike the sight of blood, for example, then our emotional reaction
to it will make us predisposed to outlaw murder. Kant argued that
emotion should have nothing at all to do with ethics.
empiricism
Generally contrasted with rationalism, empiricism refers to those
views which argue that our concepts or knowledge derive wholly or in
part from sense experience (and from introspection).
equiprobabilism
As opposed to probabilism, equiprobabilism is the view that where
there is doubt about the lawfulness or unlawfulness of an action, it is
permissible to follow either argument.
exterior and interior
acts
An interior act is an act of the will, which contrasts with an exterior
act, which is what you do. In Aquinas’ Natural Law system, both are
important. The motive and purpose of an act is just as important as
the exterior act, because its ultimate end is God.
four causes
Aristotle’s explanation of the physics of change, motion and
development. Causes are material, formal, efficient, and final. For
example the material cause of a statue is its matter (such as a marble
block), its formal cause is its final shape, its efficient cause is the
sculptor, and its final cause is the craftsmanship and aesthetic
expression of the sculptor. Of these, only the efficient and final
causes are ‘causes’ in the sense that we use the word today.
final cause
In Aristotle’s doctrine of the Four Causes, the final cause is the end or
purpose for which a thing comes into being. Aristotle argues that
everything exists for an end or purpose, and that the purpose is good.
The purpose is immanent – inside things. Purpose is also directed
towards a transcendent end, which is for every form to try to realise
its form as perfectly as possible, so imitating divine perfection. Thus
the formal cause of a human is to be as perfect as it can through
morality and reason. In that sense, the formal cause is the final
cause.
For natural objects, the efficient cause is the same as the formal and
final causes, because plants, animals and humans are normally
caused by another individual of the same species.
formal cause
According to Aristotle, matter cannot exist without form. Every bit of
matter belongs to some form or other, such as a rock, or a plant, or
an animal, or a human.
Gaia hypothesis
Gaia was the Greek ‘mother earth’ goddess. The Gaia hypothesis is
that the earth as a whole is a single organism made up of living and
non-living parts. The system is incredibly complex and interactive,
and works as a whole to regulate life on earth as a whole.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
God as sustainer
As Creator of the universe, God is also held to be its sustainer, either
because the universe is in some sense God’s body, or because God
sustains the universe as a bubble of order which is surrounded by the
forces of chaos and disorder, or (most commonly) because God
created the universe ex nihilo (from nothing), and sustains it – holds it
in existence – by the operation of his will.
good will
The centre of Kant’s moral theory is that the good will is the only thing
that is good absolutely in itself. To be a will, it must be distinguished
from emotion, inclination, or anything else.
hypothetical
imperative
Statements that take the form: ‘If x, then y’ are hypothetical, e.g. If
you want to be happy, then you should take regular exercise.
Statements such as this are hypothetical in that they describe
instrumental good – good as a means to an end. An imperative is a
command, so a hypothetical imperative is a weak command. Kant
used hypothetical imperatives to illustrate the power of categorical
imperatives, such as ‘Do not murder’, which he argues has a force
that cannot be denied.
imagio dei
The doctrine that humans were made in the image of God. In its
basic form, the image means a plastic likeness – literally a primitive
belief that humans looked like God. In its theological sense, it refers
to the belief that human reason and morality make humans the preeminent species, since animals do not (allegedly) have this
distinction. For those who dislike anthropocentric ethics, the imagio
dei doctrine is an excuse to assume power over animals and the rest
of the environment.
immutable laws
If a thing mutates, it changes, so immutable laws are laws that do not
change. In the ethical systems of Kant and Aquinas, then, the rules
cannot change, they have absolute force.
inclination
Inclination refers to what you want to do as opposed to what you
ought to do. This is a Kantian usage, contrasting the good will with
mere inclination.
intrinsic good
Intrinsic good is ‘built-in’ good, e.g. one does not have to ask why
health is good. Intrinsic good for Kant is in the good will – duty for
duty’s sake.
intrinsicalist
The word is often used in environmental ethics, opposed to
instrumentalist, to indicate the innate goodness of the environment as
a whole.
instrumental good
Contrasted with intrinsic good, instrumental good is good that is a
means to an end, e.g. the shopkeeper who is kind to his customers
because he wants their trade: he is using them as a means to that
end.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
interconnectedness
In environmental ethics, many theories stress the links between all
members of an ecosystem. Interconnectivity as a biological feature
suggests that systems must be seen as a whole, and that removal of
parts of a system may irreparably damage the rest.
intuition
Intuition refers to some direct relation between the mind and an
object. What is intuited may not be accessible to the senses, such as
numbers, universals, God, and so on. Intuitive truths may therefore
be of a kind that we cannot account for because the reasoning which
led us to their knowledge was unconscious rather than conscious.
Intuitions are common in mathematics, ethics and metaphysics, often
at points where rational arguments break down. Scepticism aside,
intuitions have been responsible for some spectacular advances in
physics, for example.
kingdom of ends
Kant’s term for the ethical community as a whole. One version of the
categorical imperative is that humans should act always as if they
were not just individuals but law-abiding members of a kingdom of
moral ends.
legalistic morality
Morality that has its focus on laws rather than, for example,
intentions. Situation Ethics, for example, is an antinomian (antilegalistic / anti-rule) theory, in that it holds that one should do the
most loving thing in the situation.
material cause
In Aristotle’s doctrine of the Four Causes, matter is the changeable
element in things, e.g. wood becoming charcoal. Things can change
in two ways: (1) by degeneration and regeneration, e.g. humans rot
when buried, so their form degenerates into soil and compost, and
then (having been spread on your vegetable patch) might regenerate
in the body tissue of whoever eats your cabbages… (2) by being
moved, matter cannot move itself (Aristotle obviously could have had
no concept of gravitational forces, for example), so can be moved
only by something already in motion.
maxim
A maxim is a rule of conduct, such as, ‘Always remember to keep
your promises’, which in Kant’s system leads to the categorical moral
rule: Keep your promises.
means / ends
distinction
In any action, we distinguish between the end result to be achieved,
and the way in which it is achieved – the means. Kant held that
people cannot be used as a means to an end, but must be seen only
as an end in themselves. Generally speaking, it is held that one is
not justified in using disproportionate means to achieve an end, e.g.
in matters of school discipline, it would not be justifiable to shoot your
students in order keep them quiet.
metaethics
Metaethics is the study of the meaning of ethical words like: good,
bad, right, wrong. Until that is decided, it is difficult to do Normative
Ethics.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
metaphysics
Metaphysics means ‘beyond’ physics. Metaphysics asks ontological
questions about the true nature of material objects, or minds, or
universals, for example. Many such questions lead to the ultimate
metaphysical question of whether or not there is a transcendent God
(or some other kind of God) who was / is responsible for the universe
and for the observers in it who are now considering the meaning of
their existence. Hume thought that books containing speculative
metaphysics of this kind deserved to be burned, as containing
‘nothing but sophistry and illusion’.
moral agent
In ethics, the person who acts in accordance with some ethical belief
or teaching is referred to as a moral agent, in the sense that what is
said or done is through his / her agency.
motive
Motives are reasons for acting or thinking in a certain way. Kant
argued emphatically that the only intrinsically good act comes from a
good will, i.e. from the motive of doing one’s ethical duty. Anything
else is mere desire or inclination.
natural law
The name of Aquinas’ ethical system, derived partly from Aristotle, in
which the good is defined by acts which are within our common
human nature. Good actions are those which help us become fully
human, whereas bad actions are those which hinder us from being
fully human.
natural theology
Natural Theology is the view that God (as Creator) can be known by
studying the world (which God created), without reference to
revelation.
normative ethics
Whereas meta-ethics considers the meaning of moral words like
‘good’ and ‘bad’, normative ethics is the debate about how we ought
to behave, and which rules we should be following, and why.
objectivism
Objectivism is that view of ethics which holds that morality is really in
the world does have a solid content. In Neo-Naturalism, for example,
the objective content of morality is the flourishing of human beings,
although with regard to the environmental debate, some now expand
this to include the flourishing of the entire interconnected
environment.
obligation
To have a sense of obligation is to have the sense of ‘ought’. In
Kant’s ethics, awareness of the categorical ought is the basis of his
system.
panentheism
This is the view that the universe is contained within God. God
interpenetrates nature as a whole, and extends timelessly beyond as
well. Process Theology is panentheistic.
pantheism
This doctrine comes in several forms. Pantheism holds that (literally)
‘all is God’, i.e. that the universe and nature and God are equivalent.
God is synonymous with the material universe.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
perfections
God’s perfections define God’s nature. The Cartesian perfections
(i.e. God’s attributes / nature as defined by Descartes) include:
omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, perfection, and so on.
plenitude
Augustine’s doctrine of plenitude held that God’s creation was
superior for containing such a fullness of created forms. The
principle of plenitude holds that in order to be as perfect as possible,
the universe has to be as ‘full’ as possible, so that it has to contain
the greatest possible diversity of life forms compatible with the laws
of nature. Another version of the principle says that nothing can
remain a real but unactualised possibility for eternity, so in the
fullness of time every possibility will be instantiated.
practical reason
In Kantian terms, Kant held that the existence of God was a
‘postulate of practical reason’. A postulate is a probability, and
practical reason is reasoning which explains something in the real
world. In order to explain his ideas about the summum bonum, Kant
assumed that the universe is fair, that humans have free will, and that
God exists. Without these assumptions, Kant believed we should
have no practical explanation of the way we do ethics or of the way
we think about doing our duty in life.
prescriptivism
The moral theory of R. Hare, that moral statements have a
prescriptive quality about them (meaning that we want them to apply
to others) and in that sense are universalisable (which Hare imports
from Kant).
primary precepts
In Natural Law Ethics, primary precepts are the ‘first’ level of rules
which apply to all human beings by virtue of their common human
nature, e.g. the primary precept of sexual behaviour is that all acts of
sex should lead directly to the possibility of procreation, from which a
number of interesting secondary precepts are then derived.
probabilism
In Roman Catholic ethics, probabilism is the view in casuistry that in
matters of the conscience which are hard to solve, it is permissible to
follow a doctrine that is probable even if the opposite view is more
probable.
process theology
This is a theological movement which stems from A.N. Whitehead,
and which now has many different ideas contained within its
umbrella. Process theologians hold that God is not omnipotent, he
seeks to persuade, but not to coerce. The universe is characterised
by process and change – change carried out by agents who have
free will. The universe as a whole has self-determination. God
seeks to influence for the good by offering ‘possibilities’. Process
theology is panentheistic, in so far as God contains the universe, but
is not identical with it. In a sense, the universe is God’s body.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
proportionalism
Proportionalism is a modification of Natural Law Ethics which seeks
to take account of the consequences of actions. It suggests that
moral rules may sometimes be broken if there is a proportionate
reason. Where this happens, the act remains objectively wrong but
is morally right: e.g. contraception is an objective wrong which can be
morally right in order to prevent the damaging effects of overpopulation.
rationalism
This refers to any view that appeals to reason as a source of
knowledge and justification, e.g. Kantian ethics, and Natural Law.
Rationalism is usually contrasted with views that appeal to sense
experience.
real and apparent
goods
In Natural Law, reason can be confused between real and apparent
goods. For example adultery might seem a real good at the time, but
deeper reflection and experience show it to be merely an apparent
good.
relativism
In moral terms, moral relativism is the view that there are no moral
absolutes, so that our moral judgements relate to upbringing, milieu,
psychology, society, and so on. Philosophers have sought to justify
relativism culturally, meta-ethically and normatively. Cultural
relativism simply notes that moral values vary between societies, and
so assume that this reflects the fact that moral values are relative.
Meta-ethical relativism argues that the discussion about the meaning
of moral language cannot reach an agreed conclusion between the
competing theories of naturalism, non-naturalism and noncognitivism; so in the absence of such an agreement, it seems safest
to conclude that this is because values are indeed relative and not
factual. Normative relativism is the view that right and wrong are
defined by the situation.
sanctity of life
principle
The Sanctity of Life Principle derives from Genesis 1:26/27,
according to which God made humans in his / her own image.
Whatever this may have meant originally, it is generally taken to
mean that human life reflects God’s rationality and morality, and so
has the ‘divine spark’. If so, then the ethical implications are that life
is sacred, and must not be destroyed. Hence the Sanctity of Life
Principle heavily influences the debate over euthanasia,
contraception, abortion, and the like.
secondary precepts
These are the rules which Aquinas derived from the primary precepts
which are at the centre of his Natural Law theory. The set of
secondary precepts most commonly referred to is that containing the
rules for sexual conduct, which have caused much controversy.
situationism
In ethics, the view that what is morally right does not depend on
inflexible absolute rules, but must fit the situation.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
stewardship
The religious doctrine that humans are responsible to God for
animals and for the rest of the environment / created world, since the
mode of the creation of humans singles them out as the species that
rules the earth on God’s behalf. Stewardship in theory should lead to
the preservation of both the human and the non-human world,
although in practice the diversity of interpretation of what appears to
be a simple idea leads also to environmental destruction.
subjectivism
In ethics, the view that what is right is a subjective (personal)
judgement. Subjective judgements have no force for others, since
every subjective opinion must be equally valid for whoever holds it,
even if it is trivial. Subjectivism is contrasted with objectivism.
summum bonum
In Kant’s ethics, Kant assumed that the force of the moral ‘ought’
implied that we ‘can’ achieve our moral goals and complete our duty
perfectly. Perfect duty ought to be rewarded by perfect happiness.
This is the summum bonum – the highest good. Since it is hardly
possible to achieve this during one’s lifetime, Kant surmised that
there must be life after death in which to achieve it, which in turn
presupposes the existence of God as the only being capable of
providing immortality, and of judging that the summum bonum has
been achieved. Kant did say that these assumptions and their basis
in God were collectively a ‘postulate of practical reason’, i.e. they are
probabilities, not facts.
synthetic
Knowledge is said to be synthetic if it is based on observation /
measurement / testing. Synthetic statements can be true or false.
Statements like, ‘Scooby is a dog’ are synthetic, and since they are
known after experience, they are a posteriori, so ‘Scooby is a dog’ is
synthetic a posteriori (and given that Scooby can talk, it is probably
synthetic a posteriori false).
synthetic a priori
Kant held that morality is a special category, in that it is synthetic a
priori. It is not possible to prove what people should do by observing
them: our knowledge of categorical imperatives is derived purely from
reason, so they must be a priori. At the same time, moral statements
can be right or wrong, so they are also synthetic.
teleological ethics
Ethical theories in which the goodness of an action can be seen in
achieving the best consequence. Teleological ethics also assume, as
did Aristotle and Aquinas, for example, that human life as a whole is
purposive, and is definable in terms of our status as rational and
moral beings.
ultimate good
Ultimate good is the highest good, which varies from theory to theory.
For some, God is morally the highest good; hence they follow Divine
Command Theory. In Kant, the highest good refers to the summum
bonum, which means the expected reward / happiness that ought to
follow for those who achieve their moral ends. This was the basis of
his ‘moral argument’ for the existence of God, which is both related to
and distinct from his ethics.
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Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Religious Studies / Explanation of Terms: Unit 1B: Religion and Ethics 2 / Version 1.0
Term
Definition
universalisability
A central focus of Kant’s ethical theory – a form of the categorical
imperative, which states that reason is correct in holding a moral law
to be true if it can be universalised, i.e. if the one who proposes to act
on it is satisfied that it should apply to all humans – to everyone in the
universe.
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