نشریه تاملات اخلاقی
سال دوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 8، زمستان 1400)

One of the important questions about morality is why human beings can’t live morally on the basis of moral will alone. In other words, why is it difficult to live morally? This is where the barriers to morality come into play. Any Human being who wants to live morally will face obstacles that prevent him from following the moral path of living. The obstacles of living morally can be divided into two sociological and psychological types. The sociological obstacles are some external factors that influence a person’s moral decisions and prevent him from living morally, such as public opinions, the value-judgments of others, the approvals and disapprovals, and likes and dislikes of others. The psychological barriers, themselves, are divided into two epistemological and non-epistemological types. The epistemological-psychological obstacles are obstacles that prevent moral living in the human psyche and are, of course, related to epistemology. According to Imam Ali (A.S.), pride, dogmatism, fanaticism and bigotry are among the epistemological- psychological obstacles. The present study makes an attempt to prove this claim in a descriptive-analytical way and to show how, according to Imam Ali (A.S.), these epistemological-psychological obstacles prevent moral living.

The prevailing popular ideology of Muslims suggests that the Companions were mere narrators of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) and did not have distinct ideas. Thus, in practice, no effort has been done until the contemporary era to study the opinions of the Companions, know their relationship with each other, study moral thoughts, and compare their moral opinions to each other and to the Shiite school of Ahl al-Bayt. Also, comparison of those teachings with the teachings of the Holy Prophet is less explored, and more neglected. This study aims at reviewing the moral thought of Abdullah Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH/ 688 CE) with a critical look at this comprehensive approach. Ibn Abbas was a jurist and commentator from the younger generation of the Companions, whose position as a moral teacher or the influence of his moral thoughts on Islamic culture and vision of later periods have not been explored. Among his system of moral opinions, this study is devoted to the study of those ideas that have been narrated about the optimization of individual and social behavior. These ideas have been reflected in his commentaries on Qur'anic verses as well as his questions and quotations from the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and have been formed as one of the dimensions of Ibn Abbas's moral thinking.

The main issue of this research is what the relationship between ethical virtues and good life is in the age of coronavirus. We live in a time when the corona virus (Covid-19) has affected the lives of all people on Earth. Covid-19 virus is an epidemic disease that poses many medical, social, political, and legal challenges. In the age of Corona, many people pledged to do virtuous deeds. They promoted justice, courage, generosity, honesty, practical wisdom, etc., helped their peers, paid attention to the elderly and the weak, and came out successful and proud in this test. Others, by hoarding basic items and neglecting the poor and the elderly and escaping from the burden of their social responsibilities, failed the test of virtue and made viciousness their profession. This article, which has been done through a descriptive method and content analysis, aims to investigate the role of ethical virtues in improving human life and reducing their suffering in the age of coronavirus. To this end, the main ethical virtues in the age of Coronavirus have been discussed and the results are insightful and we need them more than ever, as inequalities, lies, secrecy, unrest and cowardice and wrong decisions are very prominent. Justice to tackle inequality, honesty to deal with lies and secrecy, courage to face unrest, threats and cowardice, forgiveness for confronting selfishness, and practical wisdom is needed to make the right decisions. Awareness of virtues and acting on them will improve the lives of human beings and reduce their suffering in the age of Corona. Ethical virtues enable us to consciously choose our current limitations instead of being harsh and immoral, and to live a good life for ourselves and others.

In this reflection, after describing Bertolt Brecht's artistic views, we review his historical relationship with Walter Benjamin and compare the essentially political approach of the two to art. An attitude that says that art should show the way to save the audience from the unfavorable situation of society. In contrast to this prescription, we speak of another lack of credibility, the silence of rival positions, and, consequently, the absence of the vote and the personality of the audience within the aesthetic distance intended by Brecht. In a way, by recalling Fichte's views on the subject of “me and non-me”, the implication of this perception of man as an absolute identification is the subject of question. However, a suggestion can be made tha first, emphasizes the reflective nature of art. Second and most importantly, it analyzes the aesthetic understanding resulting from experience and perceptual participation in the process of human society. By following a path rooted in public education (Paideia) and focusing on the innovative world of art, understanding otherness and commitment to human society will be more guaranteed.

Natural disposition is regarded as the foundation for moral characteristics by Mulla Sadra due to the theory of the natural law. Nature for him is all the human characteristics and talents including all human and animal faculties inherent in the human character. By basing morality on this nature - which from Sadra's point of view has sanctity, intrinsic and purposeful mobility - in fact, morality is based on the form of human existence, and there is a two-way relationship between the two. This is equal to the fluidity and hierarchy of human nature. This meaning of nature is similar to the innate consciousness which comprises inherent human insights and tendencies. The main research question is what the relationship between the human disposition and the innate consciousness is and do they differ from each other? The research findings indicate that although there are many similarities between nature and instinct and they are used in the same sense in many cases, but these two are basically different from each other and their relationship is such that human nature is the bedrock for the growth and flourishing of innate consciousness. This essay deals with a clarification of the human disposition as the foundation for moral characteristics, and their relationship with and differences from each other from Mulla Sadra’s perspective.

The Holy Qur'an, following the story of the fratricide of the Son of Adam, announces the writing of this allegory on the children of Israel that killing one person is like killing everyone. The Qur'anic narration considers the murder of the son of Adam as the reason for writing this allegory. The problem, then, is what is the relationship between the fratricide of the Son of Adam and the likeness of the murder of a person to the murder of all? And why does the Qur'an consider this analogy for the children of Israel among all nations?  The present study examines the background of the subject to unravel this analogy. According to the Torah, in the story of the fratricide of the Son of Adam, the cry of the blood of the victim was heard, In the main text of the Torah, the word blood is used in the plural. According to the "Mishnah", the Torah refers to the blood of the victim and his generation. Thus the murder of Adam's son had a characteristic that was the cry of blood, and because of this murder with that particular characteristic, God decreed for the children of Israel that killing a person is like killing everyone.