Blackwell Reference Online

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Every religious tradition offers guidance for living a moral life. At the most basic level, this guidance is simply woven into the fabric of observances, beliefs, and expectations that shape a way of life we identify as Hindu, or Christian, or Ibo, or Confucian. In most cases, traditions also give rise to teachers, prophets, and philosophers who provide a critical assessment of these everyday expectations. Aristotle (384–322 bce) gave a systematic account of the virtues that were honored in Greek culture. The Hebrew prophets identified principles of justice and mercy that explained the requirements of the Law (Torah) and sometimes criticized the ways the Law was generally observed. Confucius (551–479 bce), Lao Tzu (sixth or fourth century bce), and Chuang Tzu (399–295 bce) showed the right way to observe Chinese traditional virtues by relating them to the demands of social harmony or to the patterns of an underlying natural order. Such reflections may be called “moral philosophy.” By identifying principles on which practices rest, these reflections systematize prevailing expectations, and they also provide a basis for criticizing and revising them. Most religions have had moral philosophy, in this general sense, for a very long time (Donagan 1977).Modern moral theory, however, has a more comprehensive critical purpose. Moral theory is less about how to live a particular way and ... log in or subscribe to read full text