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Science, Religion, and Ethics: The Boyle Lecture 2019

Reiss, MJ; (2019) Science, Religion, and Ethics: The Boyle Lecture 2019. Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science , 54 (3) pp. 793-807. 10.1111/zygo.12549. Green open access

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Abstract

How do we and should we decide what is morally right and what is morally wrong? For much of human history, the teachings of religion were presumed to provide either the answer, or much of the answer. Over time, two developments challenged this. The first was the establishment of the discipline of moral philosophy. Foundational texts, such as Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and the growth of coherent, nonreligious approaches to ethics, notably utilitarianism, served to marginalize the role of religion. And then, second, the twentieth century saw the rapid growth of evolutionary biology with an enthusiastic presumption that biology was the source of ethics. Here, I begin by discussing these developments and then examine the extent to which religion is still needed for a coherent account of ethics.

Type: Article
Title: Science, Religion, and Ethics: The Boyle Lecture 2019
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12549
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12549
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: ethics, evolutionary ethics, morality, virtue theory
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10080458
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