PHI 111 Classical Christian World View Lecture 1

 

I.                    Kinds of Value

 

A.     Judgement of natural values(Things Value)

1.      Concerned with kinds of things that are  natural good or natural bad

Is a thing good or evil based on themselves

Not based on anyone’s opinion

2.      Examples

a.       Knowledge

It is naturally good

You know when to plant seeds

How deep to plant them

b.      Pleasure

Is it irrational to go get yogart because it is pleasant to eat

Pleasure is naturally good

Can have bad side effects

c.       Money

It can be used wrongly but does that make evil?

No. Wine can be used badly but that does not make it evil

d.      Human hands

They can be used for evil but it is naturally good

Should you cut off your hands because they can be used for evil?

Hard to make sense

3.      Cannot have ethics if you don’t know what is naturally right and naturally evil

a.       If you have no conception of what is good and bad, your ethic would be dilusion

b.      Why do you need a conception?

If there is no understanding of good or evil, you cannot have rules

This gives you a distinction between good and bad

c.       There is no ethics because of God’s commands

There would be no reason for the command

There would be no reason to follow the commandments if there was no naturally good or evil

If there was no evil, there would be no hell so….

The commandments only make sense if there is a distinction between good and evil

d.      Good  is used first in the Bible during the creation account

God saw they were good

Things have natural value

e.       Does God want people to have the wisdom of natural value?

Cannot get anywhere without natural value

You would kill yourselves

            Babies born that cannot feel pain, eat themselves

f.        Ethics is not created at 18

Without ethic, you could not survive

Universality to natural value

You would not survive

You need ethics for culture to survive

Why nursefeed babies?

4.      Three distinctions

a.       Intrinsic value

Value of the thing in itself

b.      Extrinsic value

Value of the thing’s effects or consequences

Use as a tool

c.       Overall value

5.      Questions

a.       What is Pleasure?

Pleasure is intrinsic

What was the use of the pleasure?

Are their pleasures that can damage? YES

Drugs damage the mind

Side effects are damaging

Cigarettes increase dopymene