Best theory & moral Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“The notion that a society could be regulated entirely by market forces is a utopian fantasy: an impossible dream generated by imagining what the world would be like if everyone's behavior was utterly consistent with some abstract moral ideal-in this case, economic theories that assume all human action is based on calculating, systematic, (but scrupulously law-abiding), greed.”

“Life is more than a theory, and love of truth butters no bread: old men who have had to struggle along their way, who know the endless bitterness, the grave moral deterioration which follow an empty exchequer, may well be pardoned for an over-wish to see their sons secured from it; hunger, at least, is a reality.”

Source: The nemesis of faith: or, The history of Markham Sutherland

“We continually forget that the sphere of morals is the sphere of action, that speculation in regard to morality is but observation and must remain in the sphere of intellectual comment, that a situation does not really become moral until we are confronted with the question of what shall be done in a concrete case, and are obliged to act upon our theory.”

Doe Done Action Forget Situation Moral Cases Theory Morality Intellectual Regard Observation Comment Spheres Concrete Speculation Obliged

Book:Democracy and Social Ethics

Source: Democracy and Social Ethics

“I can have little patience with those who oppose ... the theory of evolution or what are called "mechanistic" explanations of the phenomena of life because of certain moral consequences which at first seem to follow from these theories, and still less with those who regard it as irrelevant or impious to ask certain questions at all. By refusing to face the facts , the conservative only weakens his own position.”

“Evolution throws a wonderful light on all the struggles, eccentricities, tortuous developments of the human conscience in the past. It is the only theory of morals that does. And evolution throws just as much light on the ethical and social struggle today; and it is the only theory that does. What a strange age ours is from the religious point of view! What a hopeless age from the philosopher's point of view! Yet it is a very good age, the best that ever was. No evolutionist is a pessimist.”

“We cannot but think there is something like a fallacy in Mr. Buckle's theory that the advance of mankind is necessarily in the direction of science, and not in that of morals.”

Thinking Science Moral Mankind Theory Fallacy Buckles

Book:Among My Books: First [-second] series

Source: Among My Books: First [-second] series

“In ancient times, any man rising up above the common people tried to shape his life according to his principles; it is no longer like than now; it is (because) for the ancients, moral was a principle of inner life, whereas in our days, most of the time one is content to adhere to an official moral, that we recognize in theory, but that one does not care to put into practice.”

People Men Doe Care Common Moral Principles Practice Theory Shapes Ancient Officials Rising Inner Life Ancient Times Rising Up

Author:African Spir

“Adam Smith's image of competition in the marketplace was intended as an adjunct to his detailed description of human motivation in The Theory of Moral Sentiments , in which the pursuit of profit is tempered at every juncture by sympathy and benevolence, and by the posture of the "impartial spectator" which is forced on us by our moral nature.”

Humans Motivation Moral Theory Competition Profit Pursuit Description Sentiments Adam Spectators Marketplace Benevolence Posture Juncture

Author:Ted Malloch

“The morals of men are more governed by their pursuits than by their opinions. A type of virtue is first formed by circumstances, and men afterwards make it the model upon which their theories are framed.”

Men Firsts Moral Opinion Virtue Theory Type Circumstances Models Pursuit Framed

Book:History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne

Source: History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne

“Ruskin's much-derided moral theory of art was part of an attempt to show that this human activity, which we value so highly, engaged the whole of human personality. His insistence on the sanctity of nature was part of an attempt to develop Goethe's intuition that form cannot be put together in the mind by an additive process, but is to be deduced from the laws of growth in living organisms, and their resistance to the elements.”

Source: Selected Writings

“Americans are coming to their senses, and the libertarian theory of society and government is pointing the way. The times change, but the enduring principles that help us to interpret and understand the world do not. It remains true now, as then, as in the future, saecula saeculorum, that government provides neither an effective nor a moral means for solving any human problem.”

World Way Humans Mean Helping Problem Government Moral Principles Theory Remains Endure Libertarian Senses Pointing Human Problems

Author:Llewellyn Rockwell

“Many seducers clutter the simple message of the gospel with legalistic additions, with convoluted attempts to legitimize moral compromise, and with psychological theories that turn churches into relational support groups instead of houses of worship.”

Turns House Church Simple Moral Support Groups Theory Worship Messages Psychological Compromise Clutter Convoluted Support Groups Houses Of Worship

Book:So, You Want To Be Like Christ?: Eight Essentials to Get You There

Source: So, You Want To Be Like Christ?: Eight Essentials to Get You There

“My theory of self-made men is, then, simply this; that they are men of work. Whether or not such men have acquired material, moral or intellectual excellence, honest labor faithfully, steadily and persistently pursued, is the best, if not the only, explanation of their success... All human experience proves over and over again, that any success which comes through meanness, trickery, fraud and dishonour, is but emptiness and will only be a torment to its possessor.”

Source: The Essential Douglass: Selected Writings and Speeches

“Kantian ethical theory distinguishes three levels: First, that of a fundamental principle (the categorical imperative, formulated in three main ways in Kant's Groundwork); second, a set of duties, not deduced from but derived from this principle, by way of its interpretation or specification, its application to the general conditions of human life - which Kant does in the Doctrine of virtue, the second main part of the Metaphysics of Morals; and then finally an act of judgment, through which these duties are applied to particular cases.”

“The problem I see with utilitarianism, or any form of consequentialism, is not that it gets the wrong answers to moral questions. I think just about any moral theory, worked out intelligently, and applied with good judgment, would get just about the same results as any other.”

Thinking Problem Form Answers Results Moral Theory Judgment Good Judgment Utilitarianism Wrong Answers Consequentialism

Author:Allen W. Wood

“It is rational to choose the right means to your ends to develop very elegant abstract formal theories of rational choice, and then turn these into what look like moral theories. Philosophers tend to be ravished by the formal beauty of such theories, and they don't pay much attention to the fact that our human limitations make them pretty useless in practice, while the simple point about instrumental reasoning is too shallow to be of much real moral interest.”

Humans Looks Mean Real Ends Facts Turns Choices Interest Simple Pay Attention Moral Practice Theory Philosopher Rational Limitation Useless Abstract Reasoning Formal Shallow Elegant

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Some of Kant's particular moral opinions, either because he shared the prejudices of his time, or because of his own personal crotchets, can strike sensible people as ridiculous or offensive. But in my view, his own theory provides us with the resources (the best resources available, I believe) to correct his own personal errors or cultural prejudices.”

People Believe I Believe Views Moral Opinion Particular Theory Resources Prejudice Errors Available Strikes Ridiculous Sensible Offensive

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Moral theory develops from the divine command theory of medieval Christian philosophy, mixed up with a bit of ancient pagan virtue theory, to the purely secular moral sentiment and interpersonal reaction theories of Smith and Hume, to Kant's attempt to restore command theory but with something supersensible in the individual rather than God as the source of authority.”

Philosophy Christian Individual Bits Moral Virtue Divine Theory Source Authority Ancient Reactions Command Sentiments Secular Medieval Pagan Interpersonal Hume Christian Philosophy

Author:Catherine Wilson

“I look at the most promising putative moral theories. I construct crucial thought experiments in areas where they give conflicting advice. I confront their conflicting advice with my own moral sensitivity, my moral intuition. I take the theory that can best explain the content of my intuitions as gaining inductive support through an inference to the best explanation.”

Giving Looks My Own Moral Support Advice Theory Areas Intuition Experiments Explanation Crucial Sensitivity Constructs Inference

Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo

“These theories, deontology, the moral rights theory, and utilitarianism, contradict one another. Moreover, they give conflicting (inconsistent) recommendations. It is hence not possible to hold them together, in a pursuit of moral truth.”

Giving Together Moral Rights Theory Pursuit Inconsistent Recommendations Utilitarianism

Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo

“It is of note that even if utilitarianism has proved to be superior to deontology and the libertarian moral rights theory in the area of killing, we are not allowed to say that it has been finally vindicated; it has to face other challenges in other areas, in particular in situations of distributive justice.”

Ifs Has Beens Faces Challenges Justice Situation Moral Rights Particular Theory Areas Notes Killing Libertarian Superiors Utilitarianism Vindicated

Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo

“Some philosophers think that the idea of a consequentialist virtue theory is strange, but the real strength of consequentialism is that it can emulate the requirements of other moral theories when it is the case that acting on those theories would improve the world.”

Thinking World Ideas Real Acting Moral Cases Virtue Strange Theory Philosopher Requirements Emulate Real Strength Consequentialism

Author:Dale Jamieson

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