QUESTION TEN

10. Altogether we have studied 14 ethical theorists thus far. Who is your favorite ethical theorist among the 14? Explain in depth why. APPLY their ideas to the modern world and/or your own personal life. Explain in depth.

many of the ethical theorist actually have acceptable ethical views. by acceptable, i mean they agree with my ethical views, but if i have to pick ONE favorite, i'd have to choose st. augustine. maybe the choice is biased, since i am a catholic, and by being so, of course i would have the same ethical view as augustine, but my ethical view did not come from reading augustine; it was purely developed from my own contemplation of things as i grow up. the reason augustine becomes a favorite among these philosophers is that i was astonished how my view can be so similar with his.

being a catholic, i believe strongly in the power of faith, that without faith, there is no way one can understand humanity. the problem of evil has always been a major talk between philosophers, yet until now, no one is able to give a rational answer that everyone can accept. well, i've contemplated about it alot and i came to a conclusion that maybe there is no such thing as a rational answer when one breaches the boundary of things that involve divinity. there are many different religions in this world, but all of them, including pagan, believe in the existence of a divine being (or beings). now, the doctrines may differ, but in essence all of them makes basically the same remark about what is right and what is wrong. so from there i conclude that there exists a divine being, no matter what is the form or the doctrine. now, on the problem of evil, since even the greatest minds could not provide an acceptable rational answer, maybe there is no rational answer. why do bad things happen to good people? why do good things happen to bad people? augustine is right, divine justice and wisdom is beyond our knowledge, and human rationality cannot be used to understand that.

i've read dante's divine comedy (inferno, purgatorio, paradiso) and that also emphasizes this idea. some figures who commit grave sins when they're on earth end up in paradise, but some figures who commit not-too-grave sins end up in inferno. this seems to be injustice, but dante shows that it's god's justice, and god has reasons that cannot be justified by human reasonings.