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    Virtuous action cannot be determined by fixed moral absol... — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Virtuous action cannot be determined by fixed moral absolutes but requires attention to circumstance

    Moral ResponsibilityVirtue Ethics
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Discretion with regard to time, place, amount, person, and cause draws the distinction between virtuous and vicious actions
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    • 2.Discretion is the origin and source of moderation, without which no duty is properly performed
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    • 3.Taking a human life is vicious in general, yet may be virtuous as a form of punishment or in a justly fought battle
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Kant's categorical imperative demonstrates that the universalizability of maxims provides moral guidance independent of circumstantial variation.
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    • 2.If moral rightness depended on circumstance, the same action-type could be simultaneously obligatory and prohibited, undermining coherent moral reasoning.
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    • 3.John Salisbury's own example of tyrannicide presupposes a fixed absolute—that innocent life must be protected—which grounds rather than negates the circumstantial judgment.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Aristotle's doctrine of the mean itself identifies fixed virtuous dispositions (courage, justice, temperance) whose identity is stable across circumstances even as their expression varies.
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    • 2.The claim conflates the application of a moral principle with the principle itself; circumstantial sensitivity in execution is compatible with the existence of inviolable moral absolutes.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityVirtue Ethics

    Connections

    1 topic

    Justice & Punishment1 linked

    Related

    Aristotle's doctrine of the mean itself identifies fixed virtuous dispositions (...Discretion is the origin and source of moderation, without which no duty is prop...Discretion with regard to time, place, amount, person, and cause draws the disti...If moral rightness depended on circumstance, the same action-type could be simul...
    +4 moreShow less
    John Salisbury's own example of tyrannicide presupposes a fixed absolute—that in...Kant's categorical imperative demonstrates that the universalizability of maxims...Taking a human life is vicious in general, yet may be virtuous as a form of puni...The claim conflates the application of a moral principle with the principle itse...

    Similar

    If whatever we do or however things turn out must be deemed the action...81%Ownership of actions is the necessary condition for moral responsibili...80%The moral value of an action does not depend on mere chance or acciden...80%An action can be free and subject to moral assessment even if only one...78%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: john-salisbury
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    To determine the virtuous mean in any specific circumstance, John advances an essentially Ciceronian standard: “Discretion with regard to time, place, amount, person and cause readily draws the proper distinction” between virtuous and vicious actions. Indeed, one might understand John to advocate a sort of circumstantialist—though by no means relativist—moral theory, since discretion “is the origin and source of moderation in its widest sense without which no duty is properly performed” (FCP: 37
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit