نشریه اخلاق پژوهی
پیاپی 15 (تابستان 1401)

One of the models for discussion, argument, and justification in applied ethics is “narrative ethics” which has a controversial concept. To understand the moral values and norms of each person in this sense, it would be helpful to hear the story of his life which can lay the foundations for moral decisions. Therefore, encountering the moral challenges and dilemmas in people’s individual and professional lives, we should take their stories seriously. In view of challenging claims which are made in this paper, it would be important to discuss this issue especially because there are not any works written so far in Persian. Adopting a descriptive-analytic method, this paper seeks first to explain the benefits of and approaches to narrative ethics, and then to explicate and analyze three challenging approaches to it. The findings of this study show that one cannot deny the benefits of narration for applied ethics. If narration is ignored, then many moral elements will be disordered, and all aspects of the cases of applied ethics will not be fully identified. It is worth noting that to put emphasis on these benefits is not to eliminate the need for moral theories and principles.

The relation between religion and morality has been always considered to be a central subject in moral philosophy and philosophy of religion. Ṭāḥā ʻAbd al-Raḥmān, a famous Moroccan philosopher, is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the Arab world. He is a systematic theorist who has presented many views for different philosophical problems. The new theory of “unity of morality and religion” is put forward by him concerning the relation between religion and morality. He believes that the prevalent attitudes about this relation are derived from a thought that has taken disunity for granted, whereas it does not make sense to think of morality and religion as two distinct phenomena. After discussing ʻAbd al-Raḥmān’s view concerning morality and religion, we attempt to critically analyze it and to clarify that he failed to prove the unity of religion and morality in terms of their concepts and instances.

People’s moral actions can be analyzed differently according to the theoretical principles of distinct psychological views, and the scope of difference among them may be extended to gender discrimination. The analysis of moral agency is influenced by the hypothesis of Darwinian Evolution due to its broad and strong impact on the field of physiology and others. Thus, theorists have advanced explanations appropriate to the foundations of evolutionary trends in these fields. The present study seeks first to consider the principles influential in moral agency according to the theory of evolution, second to explore some desires and actions which directly or indirectly come from dispositions or the moral kind of agency, and third to analyze the role of sexuality in moral agency. It may be supported by the study of views about evolutionary ethics that human will and responsibility are affected by principles, foundations, and explanations based on the theory of evolution and its consequences. The fact that there are evolutionary explanations as to certain moral phenomena such as sympathy, care, commitment, and aggression can make it suitable to follow from this standpoint the debate on whether ethics can be affected by sex or not.

Deontology is considered to be one of the most challenging well-known theories in the field of ethics. Being a traditional rival to utilitarianism, deontology has constantly been defined as opposed to the consequentialist theories. It has been acknowledged by many theorists that Immanuel Kant - the famous German philosopher – provided the most prominent account of deontology. This account has been explored and criticized from different standpoints, and it seems essential to critically assess it in terms of the foundations of Islamic ethics. Employing a critical analytical method and using library sources, especially transferred ones about Islamic ethics, this study aims to elaborate the different constituents and aspects of Kantian theory, and to weigh it up according to the doctrines and foundations of Islamic ethics. Although Kantian theory demonstrates a variety of significant capabilities and advantages, it pursues an absolutist and radically rationalist approach which has raised serious objections and challenges. It seems implausible at least to the advocates of religious ethics that morality cannot justifiably depend upon religion. This claim is regarded as the most significant drawback of Kant’s moral theory while there are some other presuppositions and assertions in it which are seen as wrong by other thinkers.

This paper seeks to critically explain and examine the concept of “moral taint” for the first time in Persian. One has moral taint when his moral character forms a negative state without his involvement in its formation. While the term of “moral taint” is recently coined, its referent has been discussed in previous works. To explain this term in more detail, the current paper aims to compare it with moral luck and metaphysical sin. Moreover, it discusses certain potential consequences of moral taint such as shame, regret, moral responsibility, and compensation. It argues for the view that the theory of moral taint is not sufficiently coherent and the account given for it is faced with a number of problems. Reflection on this concept shows that moral taint, which can characterized as a scandal, is more a social fact than an ethical one. Although its proponents justifiably intended to bear in mind crimes against humanity and to learn from these crimes, good intentions do not make the idea right.

Michael Hand regards compliance with ethical standards as the primary objective of moral education. He believes that directive moral education is a kind of thoughtful reflection which aims to promote compliance with justified ethical standards. Therefore, one cannot remain impartial to justified ethical standards and one needs to purposefully contribute to the debate so as to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. Hand sees this as a necessary condition for the continuity of social life. The main question of this study is whether it is an appropriate way for moral education to justify ethical standards by means of argument. This study seeks to challenge Hand’s commitment to argument and rational justification for ethical standards as the most effective method for moral education. This is because logical reasoning is not by itself sufficient to convince others and to promote compliance with moral principles. The present research claims that there is a sort of implicit compliance with ethical standards. General agreement on ethical standards depends upon some implicit understanding obtained by living in an especial culture with a distinctive identity. This cannot be formulated in rational arguments. Moral education based on this understanding may lead to a deep insight into ethics that plays a crucial role in acquiring moral virtues. The current research defends this quality as implicit compliance with ethical standards.