مجله پژوهش های اخلاقی
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 5، پاییز 1390)

How can a moral theory be derived from the principles of formal logic? Harry Gensler, a contemporary moral philosopher and logician, has put his focus on such a question by engaging in the project of "formal ethics". Grounding his moral system on the axioms of formal logic, he attempts to prove the authenticity of some basic moral propositions and ethical principles such as the Golden Rule and finally to back moral living. According to Gensler, formal logic is not sufficient for moral life, but by putting forth a picture of moral rationality (to be logical is regarded as one of its components) he draws morality from it. The most important element of this general rationality is flexibility and the ethical golden rule is also defined as a kind of flexibility. Thus, living morally is an integral part of rationality. In this paper we aim to survey Gensler's views in this regard.

To reply to the question on "the meaning of life", you need to know the nature of man appropriately. Philosophical anthropology is considered by Mulla Sadra as forming the basis of all teachings and fundamental questions without which other kinds of learning is not completed. According to him, man is blessed with certain superiorities over other beings, originating from the human soul and intellect, and it is due to his rational perception that he sets to find the truth and meaning of life. Man, practically, is not void of end and aim. The ideal aim of life, in the sight of the intellect, is to know God. Accordingly, man tries to know God and his actions and in this process, he proceeds to know himself and the world as genetic/existential actions of God, formulating the four theoretical and practical voyages. This existential and voluntary behavior of man will reach its destination and bear fruit, provided that he moves voluntarily at the intellect's command towards God to gain tranquility by Him. The purposefulness of man and his life is based on substantial motion/transubstantiation and the flexibility of his essence. Unlike other beings, man has no stable position in the rank of existence; he can move down to the lower levels of existence or move up to higher levels. Apart from his ideal aim, man enjoys several middle aims. In this paper we try to explain the philosophical anthropology of Mulla Sadra and then examine his view about the meaning of life.

Regarding Kierkegaard’s threefold stages of life, specially the last one which is the religious or ethical stage, we find that his intended ethics will be realized at the religious or ethical stage. The ethics he referred to in his works is a kind of Hegelian ethics which is not his intended ethics at all. As Kant speaks of conventional and transcendental reasons, we can say that Kierkegaard has also spoken of conventional and transcendental ethics. Ethics of Faith is a title under which Evans deals with Kierkegaard's ethics. His ethics is based on belief in God and submission to divine command. In this paper we will introduce all elements and components of Kierkegaard's Ethics of Faith including absolute submission to categorical imperative, love, practice and imitation, and sincerity. We also address our "realization ethics" which makes a linkage between Kierkegaard's existentialism and his ethics. Finally we add that "ethics of faith" characterized as submission to divine command is categorized under the theories of divine command.

In this paper we examine the ethical theory of Thomas Aquinas which, in fact, is based on natural law. Natural or innate law is a radiation of Divine Providence which is perceived by man's intuition. Aquinas believes that according to the common nature shared by man and other beings, man is naturally inclined towards what is considered to be good. In other words, we are naturally inclined to self protection and other matters like procreation and the training of our children. All these tendencies are regarded as instances of natural law. Man as a sane being can distinguish between his natural tendencies and unnatural ones. According to Aquinas, all instances of natural law originate from an evident rule: what is good is to be done and pursued and what is evil is to be avoided; which is nothing but acting upon our natures and this means to live according to the nature.

This paper deals with the possibility of self-deception in western ethics and its different explanatory approaches, the most important of which are the conceptual and experimental approaches. Despite their differences, there are common points and similar results in these approaches concerning the nature of self-deception. Generally speaking, having any kind of prejudice and unjustified wrong beliefs disguised as true beliefs before the soul are an instance of self-deception.

Mandelbaum considers moral experiences to be a form of judgment and hence, his moral discussions are focused on moral judgments. In this paper we go through Mandelbaum's explanation of direct moral judgments issued by a moral agent in a direct encounter with the situation. After an introductory word about Mandelbaum and his book, The Phenomenology of Moral Experience, we go briefly through his outlines in this regard. In the first part, we will speak of Mandelbaum's explanation of various moral judgments and their relation with each other and exclusively we proceed to analyze the concept of direct moral judgments. In the second part we formulate the conditions of phenomenology of moral action from Mandelbaum's perspective, and finally in the third part we refer to the most important feature of his moral theory, that is coordination between action and situation as the origin of moral demand and commitment and the common feature of all moral experiences.

The Sahifah Sajjadiyya is an old book of supplications containing the prayers of Imam al-Sajjad (a). Due to the political limitations of that time, he would present divine teachings under the guise of prayers. In this paper we aim to survey some principles of social ethics included in this book, the most important of which are as follows: the principles related to family ethics, restraining anger, honesty, respect for humanity, courtesy and humility, kindness, generosity, lenity and forbearance, faithfulness to ones promises and keeping self-respect.