Reading Quiz No. 1 - RS 361
According to the chapter “Comparative Religious Ethics” (D. Fasching), Religious Language:
- Is Utilitarian and tries to produce maximum usefulness for the majority
- Is confusing and therefore religions need to simplify it to reach people more effectively
- Is outdated and if modernized, everyone would clearly and completely understand the message
- Is full of metaphors and allegories, because it tries to explain the inexplicable
The author of “Comparative Religious Ethics” discussing Religious Language uses the phrase “via negativa”. What does he mean?
- Often Religious Language describes the divine not “what it is like” but “what it is not”
- Religious Language often criticizes people too harshly for their shortcomings
- Unfortunately, obscurity of Religious Language has created significant misfortune
- It states that negative thinking can create bad karma
According to D. Fasching, how did the emergence of city civilizations affect the religious worldview?
- “City civilizations” created environmental crisis and people lost their religion and became more secular
- People lost their sense of “sameness” and “collective identity” with their tribe and death became a personal and cruel problem
- The author does not believe that “city civilizations” affected the religious worldview in any way
- People became more individualistic and the “divine” became more democratic and available for all
In “Religion, Science and Ethics” the author’s main point is:
- Religions are usually outdated, superstitious and often hateful, therefore the only solution is to find the best religion which is accurate and valid
- The author takes a balanced view and believes that religious experience, although not scientifically accurate, is an important contribution to human ethics and self-awareness.
- Religious claims are absolutely valid and should be taken seriously along with scientific discoveries
- Only scientific, provable and testable data is valid and religion should be disregarded as superstition
In “Religion, Science and Ethics” the author mentions Chomsky’s theory. What is it about?
- Morality, Ethics and the Concept of Language may be “built in” in humans which goes beyond science
- Children learn foreign languages much faster, because of certain chemicals in their brain
- Chomsky’s theory is about human language being a non existent and meaningless thing, because it cannot be proven scientifically
- Religious Language has been developed throughout the human evolution
John believes that morality depends on one’s value system, culture etc. and there are no general, universal moral concepts
He is most likely a:
- Moral Subjectivist
- Moral Objectivist
- Supernaturalist
- Idealist
According to the textbook by “Gensler”, Emotivism states that:
- Ethical decision can also be based on one’s “gut feeling”
- Moral feelings are not scientific and therefore invalid and meaningless emotional expressions
- Morality should be based on the “Divine Command” concept only
- Motivation is the main driving force for morality
Sandel, in his “The Greatest Happiness Principle” section argues that:
- Utilitarianism cannot be right, because it creates serious ethical problems for “individual rights”
- Utilitarianism can be right if we consider its usefulness in the long run
- “Usefulness for the majority” principle is perhaps the most reasonable ethical theory
- Each society should decide for itself what is right and what is wrong
According to Sandel’s “The Greatest Happiness Principle” chapter, what is the main difference between Bentham’s and Mill’s understanding of “pleasure” as the final goal for Utilitarianism?
- There is no difference, both of them agree on the “pleasure” concept similarly
- Bentham’s Utilitarianism believes pleasure is pleasure, but Mill thinks “higher pleasure” is the main goal
- Bentham is a Supernaturalist but Mill is a Utilitarian
- Bentham thinks minority rights are equally important but Mill does not
According to Sandel’s “The Greatest Happiness Principle” chapter, the main point of the story entitled “The City of Happiness” is?
- If everyone thinks of the well-being of the majority we will have an ideal society
- We can never have an ideally happy society if happiness is at the expense of the suffering of a silent minority
- Ideal society would be possible only if all citizens were genuinely religious
- There is a constant battle between good and evil and good will eventually win
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