Concepts of Morality in the Light of Religious and Philosophical Traditions: A Comparative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57125/FP.2023.06.30.05Keywords:
religious moral values, socio-cultural concept of morality, naturalistic concept of morality, philosophy, ethics, moral standardsAbstract
Moral issues balance between the dogmatism of value constants and functional dynamism in the socio-cultural space. The purpose of the article is to highlight the priority of the paradigm of the moral component, corresponding to a pragmatic approach to interpreting morality in modern society. The blurring of religion or philosophy's dominant influence (while preserving their positions) in moral and ethical issues demonstrates the flexibility of modern socio-cultural development. Such transformations lead to the reorientation of moral issues towards a functional and institutional vector. The research methods focus on the interaction between general scientific analytical elements and philosophical and ideological dimensions of synergy. The study results indicate that in the last five years, publications on moral issues have shown a tendency to maintain parity and interchangeability between religious, philosophical, and scientific anthropological concepts. Morality retains a value load, guided by spiritual criteria (mainly religious). Moral principles accumulate functional dimensions (scientific and philosophical). The scientific discourse states that the balance between the spiritual and functional aspects of moral concepts is maintained, indicating the synchronization of fundamentality and innovation in modern society. Cultural and historical experience (religious “dark ages” or “immorality of science”) shows that the significant dominance of one aspect of morality has negatively impacted civilizational development. The scientific novelty implies the need to develop a strategy for correlating the value and functional dimensions of morality to prevent an imbalance of the moral component. Conclusions. The concepts of morality in religious and philosophical traditions have coexisted throughout human history, alternating the priority of value or functional characteristics. The concepts of morality correspond to the institutional manifestations of the spiritual life of man and society while universalizing moral guidance in a holistic paradigm.
References
Abrams, S., Conrad Jackson, J., & Gray, K. (2021). The new trinity of religious moral character: the Cooperator, the Crusader, and the Complicit. Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 99-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.09.001
Alzola, M., Hennig, A., & Romar, E. (2020). Thematic Symposium Editorial: Virtue Ethics Between East and West. Journal of Business Ethics, 165, 177-189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04317-2
Astrachan, J. H., Binz Astrachan, C., Campopiano, G. (2020). Values, Spirituality and Religion: Family Business and the Roots of Sustainable Ethical Behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics, 163, 637-645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04392-5
Aziz, M. A. (2023). The Philosophical Foundation of Western Higher Education: A Critical Review of Theory and Practice. International Journal of Educational Research Review, 8(2), 208-219. https://doi.org/10.24331/ijere.1238148
Baron, J. (2020). Religion, cognitive style, and rational thinking. Current Opinion in Behavioural Sciences, 34, 64-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.12.015
Begum, A., Liu, J., Qayum, H., & Mamdouh, A. (2022). Environmental and Moral Education for Effective Environmentalism: An Ideological and Philosophical Approach. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23), 15549. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315549
Bentahila, L., Fontaine, R., & Pennequin, V. (2021). Universality and Cultural Diversity in Moral Reasoning and Judgement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 764360. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.764360
Bietti, E. (2021). From Ethics Washing to Ethics Bashing: A Moral Philosophy View on Tech Ethics. Journal of Social Computing, 2(3), 266-283. https://doi.org/10.23919/JSC.2021.0031
Bleazby, J. (2019). Fostering moral understanding, moral inquiry & moral habits through philosophy in schools: a Deweyian analysis of Australia's Ethical Understanding curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 52(1), 84-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1650116
Capraro, V., & Perc, M. (2021). Mathematical foundations of moral preferences. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 18(175). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2020.0880
Ciocan, C. T. (2019). The Value of the Soul in the Religious Views. An Overview targeting the Salvation of an Individual. Dialogo, 2, 233-244. http://www.dx.doi.org/10.18638/dialogo.2020.6.2.21
Dasborough, M. T., Hannah, S. T., & Zhu, W. (2020). The generation and function of moral emotions in teams: An integrative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(5), 433-452. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000443
Ekman, I. (2022). Practising the ethics of person-centred care balancing ethical conviction and moral obligations. Nursing Philosophy, 23, e12382. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12382
Ellemers, N., van der Toorn, J., Paunov, Y., & van Leeuwen, T. (2019). The Psychology of Morality: A Review and Analysis of Empirical Studies Published From 1940 Through 2017. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 23(4), 332-366. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868318811759
Gary, M. E. (2022). From care ethics to pluralist care theory: The state of the field. Philosophy Compass, 17(4), e12819. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12819
Gulliford, L., & Morgan, B. (2021). The concept of gratitude in philosophy and psychology: an update. ZEMO, 4, 201-212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42048-021-00103-w
Haslam, N., Vylomova, E., Zyphur, M., & Kashima, Y. (2021). The cultural dynamics of concept creep. American Psychologist, 76(6), 1013-1026. Retrieved from: https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2022-13889-013
Hickey, C., & Robeyns, I. (2020). Planetary justice: What can we learn from ethics and political philosophy? Earth System Governance, 6, 100045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2020.100045
Ienca, M. (2021). On Neurorights. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, 701258. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.701258
Jin, Y. (2023). The Conflict of Free Will and Moral Responsibility. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 8, 1139-1145. https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v8i.4440
Klenk, M., O'Neill, E., Arora, C., Blunden, C., Eriksen, C., Frank, L., & Hopster, J. (2022). Recent Work on Moral Revolutions. Analysis, 82(2), 354-366. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anac017.
Koenig, H. G., & Al Zaben, F. (2021). Moral Injury: An Increasingly Recognised and Widespread Syndrome. Journal of Religion and Health, 60, 2989-3011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01328-0
Koplin, J. J., & Gyngell, C. (2020). Emerging moral status issues. Monash Bioethics Review, 38, 95-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-020-00124-y
Krettenauer, T. (2022). When moral identity undermines moral behaviour: An integrative framework. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16(3), e12655. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12655
Kurjak, A., Stanojević, M., Barišić, P., Ferhatović, A., Gajović, S., & Hrabar, D. (2023). Facts and doubts on the beginning of human life - scientific, legal, philosophical and religious controversies. Journal of Perinatal Medicine, 51(1), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2022-0337
Ludwig, D., & El-Hani, C. N. (2020). Philosophy of Ethnobiology: Understanding Knowledge Integration and Its Limitations. Journal of Ethnobiology, 40(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-40.1.3
Martin, D., Mörch, C. M., & Figoli, E. (2022). The notion of moral competence in the scientific literature: a critical review of a thin concept. Ethics & Behaviour, 33(6), 461-489. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2022.2067163
Martí-Vilar, M., Escrig-Espuig, J. M., & Merino-Soto, C. (2023). A systematic review of moral reasoning measures. Current Psychology, 42, 1284-1298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01519-8
McCaffree, K. (2019). Moral Realism in Historical Sociological Theory. Journal of Historical Sociology, 32, 124-141. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12204
McDermid, J. A., Jia, Y., Porter, Z., & Habli, I. (2021). Artificial intelligence explainability: the technical and ethical dimensions. Philosophical Transactions A, 37920200363. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0363
Molendijk, T., Verkoren, W., Drogendijk, A., Elands, M., Kramer, E. H., Smit, A., & Verweij, D. (2022). Contextual dimensions of moral injury: An interdisciplinary review. Military Psychology, 34(6), 742-753. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2022.2035643
Mourao Permoser, J. (2019). What are Morality Policies? The Politics of Values in a Post-Secular World. Political Studies Review, 17(3), 310-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929918816538
Noichl, M. (2021). Modelling the structure of recent philosophy. Synthese, 198, 5089-5100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02390-8
Okyere-Manu, B., Nkansah Morgan, S., & Nwosimiri, O. (2022). Cultural, ethical, and religious perspectives on environment preservation. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 85, 94-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2022.09.004
Oliveira-Souza, R., & Moll, J. (2019). Moral conduct and social behaviour. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 163, 295-315. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804281-6.00016-1
Plakias, A. (2019). Moral relativism and moral disagreement. In Kusch, M. (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Relativism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351052306
Rhee, J. J., Schein, C., & Bastian, B. (2019). The what, how, and why of moralisation: A review of current definitions, methods, and evidence in moralisation research. Soc Personal Psychol Compass, 13, e12511. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12511
Rosen, M., Bilgrami, A., Unger, R. M., Smith, A. D., & Dworkin, R. (2022). The Shadow of God. Kant, Hegel, and the Passage from Heaven to History. Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674276055
Santoni de Sio, F., & Mecacci, G. (2021). Four Responsibility Gaps with Artificial Intelligence: Why they Matter and How to Address them. Philosophy & Technology, 34, 1057-1084. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-021-00450-x
Saroglou, V., & Craninx, M. (2021). Religious moral righteousness over care: a review and a meta-analysis. Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.09.002
Sauer, H., Blunden, C., Eriksen, C., & Rehren, P. (2021). Moral progress: Recent developments. Philosophy Compass, e12769. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12769
Shadnam, M., Bykov, A., & Prasad, A. (2021). Opening Constructive Dialogues Between Business Ethics Research and the Sociology of Morality: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium. Journal of Business Ethics, 170, 201-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04638-7
Tolmeijer, S., Kneer, M., Sarasua, C., Christen, M., & Bernstein, A. (2021). Implementations in Machine Ethics: A Survey. ACM Computing Surveys, 53(6). https://doi.org/10.1145/3419633
Trynyak, M., & Yakymchuk, O. (2021). Moral Paradoxes of Emerging Technologies in the Education Sector. Philosophy and Cosmology, 27, 163-173. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/27/13
Wallace, G., & Walker, A. D. M. (Eds.). (2020). The definition of morality. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003051961
Watkins, H. M. (2020). The Morality of War: A Review and Research Agenda. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(2), 231-249. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619885872
West, S., & Schill, C. (2022). Negotiating the ethical-political dimensions of research methods: a key competency in mixed methods, inter- and transdisciplinary, and co-production research. Humanities and social sciences communications, 9. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01297-z
Yaprak, A., & Prince, M. (2019). Consumer morality and moral consumption behaviour: literature domains, current contributions, and future research questions. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 36(3), 349-355. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-12-2018-2999
Yılmaz, A., & Geylani, D. (2023). The Relationship Among the Rule of Law, Morality, and the Modern State. İnsan Ve Toplum, 13(1), 281-306. https://doi.org/10.12658/M0684
Zoshak, J., & Dew, K. (2021). Beyond Kant and Bentham: How Ethical Theories are being used in Artificial Moral Agents. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Association for Computing Machinery, 590, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445102
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 author

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
