Weakness of Theory In the realm of philosophy and guidelines, exist a set of criteria that help define the minimum of moral standards. This criteria is known as the “Minimum Conception of Morality” (MCM). James and Stewart Rachels defines the MCM as: “at the very least, the effort to guide one 's conduct by reason -- that is, to do what there are the best reasons for doing -- while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision. (Rachels & Rachels, 13)”. The MCM dictates that a moral agent must practice impartiality, justified inspection of principles, abide by reason, and act on deliberation. These principles define the standards that allow theories to be considered sound. If a theory does not follow the
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This theory is dominant theory of ethics within Christian thought (54) and states that order and functionality is essentially “programmed” into nature, and is as natural as nature itself. Essentially, this theory can be narrowed down to the phrase: “everything has a purpose” (54). According to this theory, nature gives everything a purpose because what occurs in reality is natural. This theory suffers problem with the world being “natural”, and how it is applied. Modern science and scientific law is abandoned, as there is no purpose to explain them, essentially saying: “science happens because its science”. Meanwhile, the boundaries of right and wrong are skewed with this theory, as disease is considered as acceptable and completely natural, while homosexuality is wrong and unnatural in the …show more content…
This theory advocates the concept of “selfishness”, as the individual should do what is best for themselves. This theory gives morality to selfishness, and glorifies it as the epitome of moral accomplishment. This theory suffers serious problems when altruism is analyzed. While this theory argues that altruism has an underlying motive for selfish gain, there have been more than enough documented acts of heroism that pose extreme risk and little reward to occur. The existence of these particular acts nullify the argument of altruism being a selfish act. In addition, this theory states that actions should be made not based on intellect, but by need for moral achievement, which immediately violates MCM’s support of
This theory is dominant theory of ethics within Christian thought (54) and states that order and functionality is essentially “programmed” into nature, and is as natural as nature itself. Essentially, this theory can be narrowed down to the phrase: “everything has a purpose” (54). According to this theory, nature gives everything a purpose because what occurs in reality is natural. This theory suffers problem with the world being “natural”, and how it is applied. Modern science and scientific law is abandoned, as there is no purpose to explain them, essentially saying: “science happens because its science”. Meanwhile, the boundaries of right and wrong are skewed with this theory, as disease is considered as acceptable and completely natural, while homosexuality is wrong and unnatural in the …show more content…
This theory advocates the concept of “selfishness”, as the individual should do what is best for themselves. This theory gives morality to selfishness, and glorifies it as the epitome of moral accomplishment. This theory suffers serious problems when altruism is analyzed. While this theory argues that altruism has an underlying motive for selfish gain, there have been more than enough documented acts of heroism that pose extreme risk and little reward to occur. The existence of these particular acts nullify the argument of altruism being a selfish act. In addition, this theory states that actions should be made not based on intellect, but by need for moral achievement, which immediately violates MCM’s support of