{"id":4623,"date":"2018-04-07T12:33:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T12:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/04\/07\/private-and-public-morality-again\/"},"modified":"2018-04-07T12:33:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T12:33:58","slug":"private-and-public-morality-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/04\/07\/private-and-public-morality-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Private and Public Morality Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elliot submits the following and I add comments in blue:<\/span><\/p>\n

After reading Machiavelli, Arendt, and the Important Difference between Private and Public Morality<\/em><\/a>, I thought you might be interested in J. P. Moreland\u2019s A Biblical Case For Limited Government<\/em><\/a>.<\/span> <\/p>\n

His position seems similar to yours (and mine) is several respects. Here are some relevant quotations.<\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201cIn my view, the more secular a society becomes, the more its citizens turn to government to give them a sense of transcendence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I agree. As Schopenhauer said, "Man is a metaphysical animal." He is not content with a merely physical existence and the petty meanings and purposes of ordinary life.  Those no longer able to take religion seriously seek  a substitute in political activism. They seek transcendence where it cannot be found, in the immanent sphere of the political.<\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201cAs naturalism and postmodernism gain ascendency, [ascendancy] the idea of individual, responsible agency vanishes, and therapeutic justice and a culture of victimization take its place. Now those that advocate free will and responsible agency tend to want government to be small and off people\u2019s backs. By contrast, those who eschew such agency tend to want government to provide care for various victims of the natural lottery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201c… the state cannot show compassion. As an individual, a representative of the state can have compassion in his heart as he gives to the poor; but this compassion is exhibited by him qua <\/em>individual and not qua <\/em>representative of the state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Right.<\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201cJesus held that the church and state had separate callings and spheres of authority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Render unto Caesar . . . Matthew 22:20-22<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201cIt is widely agreed that two features are at the core of Jesus\u2019s ethical teaching\u2014virtue ethics and the love commands… I am among a growing number of thinkers who believe that Jesus was primarily a virtue ethicist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

— \u201cIn a biblical ethic, helping the poor by the coercive power of the state is of little ethical value.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I should think that this holds for any ethic worth its salt.<\/span>  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSuch actions count for very little in God\u2019s eyes because they do not reflect the features of Jesus\u2019s ethic identified above.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 – \u201c…when it comes to caring for the poor, which is clearly a moral duty placed on believers, Jesus never intended such action to be forced on people by the state. Such acts were to be voluntary and from a freely given heart of compassion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some thoughts of mine with which J. P. may or may not agree.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state is coercive by its very nature. Now either that coercion is morally justifiable or it is not. If it is justifiable, and the state takes money from me for a good cause, then, while I have not been morally violated, my contribution has no moral value.  <\/span><\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, the coercion essential to the state is not morally justifiable, and the state takes money from me for a good cause, then it is the case both that I am been morally violated and that my contribution has no moral value.  Money has been stolen from me to benefit someone else.  That is not what is going on in the first case. If the state and its coercion are morally justified, and the state takes my money via taxation for a legitimate function of government such as the securing of the nation's borders, then that money has not been stolen from even even though it has been taken by force.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other questions arise concerning the state's coercive taking of money from citizens to fund what many consider to be evil enterprises such as abortion providers.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
<\/a>Maverick Philosopher: Machiavelli, Arendt, and the Important Difference between Private and Public Morality<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elliot submits the following and I add comments in blue: After reading Machiavelli, Arendt, and the Important Difference between Private and Public Morality, I thought you might be interested in J. P. Moreland\u2019s A Biblical Case For Limited Government.  His position seems similar to yours (and mine) is several respects. Here are some relevant quotations. — \u201cIn … Continue reading “Private and Public Morality Again”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-morality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}