Chapter 2 and Luke 6 Moral Judgment Vocabulary

Flashcards covering vocabulary, key figures, and concepts from Chapter 2 on moral judgment and rule interpretation, along with Luke Chapter 6 notes.

Rules

Provisional guides that allow people to get on well enough most of the time, but are not automatic answers and can conflict, have exceptions, or be too vague for concrete situations.

Jean Valjean

A character who steals bread to feed his starving family, demonstrating how the rule against stealing can conflict with the obligation to protect one's family.

Golden Rule

The moral principle 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' which provides guidance but is too broad to dictate exact actions in every concrete situation.

Sartre's Example

A scenario involving a student choosing between caring for his mother and fighting the Nazis, illustrating that multiple moral duties can conflict.

Whistleblowers

Individuals, such as those at Volkswagen and NASA, who choose moral disobedience over obeying authority when ethics require it.

Stanislav Petrov

An officer who engaged in moral disobedience by refusing to treat a false nuclear warning as a real attack.

Milgram Experiment

A psychological study showing how easily people obey authority even when believing they are causing harm to others, while noting people are more likely to resist when someone else goes first.

Leviticus

A biblical book containing commandments concerning food, clothing, and appearance that people selectively follow, demonstrating the importance of historical context and interpretation.

Story of Sodom

A biblical narrative involving violence, attempted rape, hostility toward strangers, and social injustice, demonstrating why religious stories should not be reduced to one simple lesson.

Ezekiel

A biblical prophet who characterized Sodom's failure as 'pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease' and a failure to help the poor.

Hermeneutics

The interpretation of stories, requiring attention to complexity and multiple perspectives.

Abraham

The chapter's strongest example of independent moral thinking, who repeatedly challenges God's plan to destroy innocent people in Sodom by asking 'Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right?'

Story of Abraham and Isaac

A narrative where Abraham obeys God's command to sacrifice Isaac, raising the philosophical question of whether something is good because God commands it, or God commands it because it is already good.

Luke Chapter 6

A scriptural text emphasizing that morality stems from compassion, love, and human well-being rather than rigid rule-following, calling on people to love enemies, forgive, and show mercy.