Research Quarterly in Islamic Ethics
Year:2020 | Volume:13 | Issue:47|Papers Count:8

The present article looks at the control of political power through the lens of Islamic ethics, which distinguishes between the two approaches of direct and indirect criticism by examining some ethical texts. In these texts, the direct critique of power, on the one hand, is necessary to correct the state of society; but on the other hand, given its enormous dangers, it is advisable to avoid it. In addition, the indirect critique of power refers to issues in ethics, the political dimensions of which may not be obvious in theory, but a little attention reveals its critical approach. Definition of politics and justice, explanation of the necessary traits and characteristics for the rulers as well as criticism of flattery are among these issues. Although the moral critique of power is not sharp and, due to the atmosphere of ethics, it is accompanied by soft and sometimes indirect expression, its critical angle is quite prominent given the political situation of the society and the type of issues raised.

Because any moral system is organized by a school of thought and belief system, and considering that Sheikh Mofid was one of the pioneers in establishing and organizing the theological and doctrinal school of Imamiyya, the present article has attempted to extract the theological foundations of ethics via content analysis. Hence, Sheikh Mofid’ s theological propositions in the fields of epistemology, theology, guidance studies, anthropology and cosmology were extracted with an ethical approach. Among them are the monotheistic moral system, the originality of the soul, the employment of the body in performing moral actions, man's free will in moral life, the necessary existence of the model of the Infallibles for proximity and the meaningfulness of the physical Resurrection in the moral-monotheistic system with heaven and hell at it center. In conclusion, the comprehensiveness of Sheikh Mofid’ s theory of duty-and goal-orientation, the human inclusion of this theory, its superiority over the secular moral system, the meaningfulness of the moral life with the belief in the Hereafter, and the moral consequence of the aimlessness were revealed.

Moral utilitarianism is one of the issues underlying utilitarianism among Western thinkers. At the forefront of this debate is John Stuart Mill, who found out the utilitarianism of morality after designing the classical liberalism in the realm of morality based on the philosophical basis of utilitarianism. To him, utilitarianism in life brings about most happiness for a person. The goal and purpose of utilitarianism in morality is to maximize joy and happiness. As regards sacrificing oneself for others, this happiness assumes a moral value and expresses utilitarian morality. Based on the findings of this study, moral pluralism, libertinism, and exploitation of material pleasures to the maximum for the happiness of life are the results of utilitarian morality. Allameh Ja’ fari presents serious challenges to the foundations and components proposed in Mill’ s thought. He considers human-centeredness, survival conflict, the originality of pleasure and the originality of utility as the basis of Mill’ s ideas and introduces them as the cause of deviation and destruction of humanity. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this research first discusses Mill’ s thought and then with a critical analytical method, critiques his theory based on the intellectual system of Professor Mohammad Taqi Ja’ fari.

According to Islamic teachings, arrogance is one of the main moral diseases, a plague for the health of the heart and an obstacle to achieving perfection and reaching heaven. Due to the importance and necessity of “ moral health” , the present study, using its descriptive-analytical method and based on the verses and hadiths, seeks to find the root cause of arrogance disease in order to provide the basis for the root therapy. Research findings show: a) the root cause of the disease arrogance is “ ignorance” and the arrogant have serious problems in three areas of self-knowledge, theology and cosmology; b) in the area of self-knowledge, the arrogant are unaware of their innate poverty and constant need for divine grace and are under the illusion of ownership; c) in the area of theology, the arrogant are unable to understand the ownership, sovereignty, power, and absolute richness of God Almighty; d) in the area of cosmology, they have not understood the reality of the world and the true nature of the world. Therefore, the main solution for the treatment of this deadly disease is to strive for self-knowledge, theology and cosmology

Given that the effects of the lack of moral sovereignty are becoming increasingly apparent in societies, and that especially developed societies in this regard are encountered with widespread challenges, discussion about moral philosophy is inevitable. Differences of opinions in moral philosophy have made the comparative comparison of different perspectives in this respect doubly important. Relying on specialized sources and comparative comparisons, in this research, we seek to answer what the main differences are between martyr Motahhari and McIntyre as representatives of Islamic and Western ideas in explaining the meaning of virtue. Belief in relativism, independence in the development of the program of happiness, belief in the historical context of the emergence of virtue, and knowledge of virtue as intermediate are among the most important elements that distinguish these two views. Based on the arguments presented, it can be concluded that although McIntyre’ s thought is a defensible theory in ethics, it has shortcomings in comparison with Islamic thought.

The human perception that has multiple origins is influenced by external and internal factors. Some of these effects cause distortion in knowledge and others cause acceleration or create a new kind of knowledge and insight. From the point of view of verses and hadiths and from the viewpoint of moral scholars and sages, virtues and vices are considered as some of the factors affecting human knowledge. This influence can sometimes be proved as a desire to acquire knowledge or to accelerate understanding or create some enlightened perceptions due to virtuousness and sometimes in distorting or depriving of some types of perceptions due to viciousness. Of course, the degree of these effects and their intensity and weakness are different owing to different perceptions. The problem we are trying to solve in this article is how to analyze and study this impact in a rational way. According to the authors of this article, through an analytical method, it is possible to present a rational explanation of the effects of virtues and vices on human knowledge by “ analyzing the basic humanities of philosophical ethics” , “ the necessity of the compatibility between cause and effect” , “ the existence of a relationship between emotions and knowledge” and finally “ the agency of virtues and vices for the enlightenment and darkness of the self” .

Ethics is one of the fundamental theoretical and practical sciences that is used in various sciences and is considered as “ objective obligation” in religious teachings. Contrary to the simplistic notion of morality, its definition studies is heeded by Islamic and Western thinkers and is met with various views. While examining and analyzing the maximum and minimum definitions of ethics from the point of view of Islamic thinkers, the present article has put it to the test of comparison with the teachings of the Koran and narrations; and believes that the definition studies of Islamic ethics is based on the worldview and ideology of Islam; and propositions such as “ self” , “ attributes of virtues and vices” , "power and action” , “ disposition” , “ non-disposition” , “ behavior", “ motivation” , “ conation” , “ free will” , “ heaven and hell” play an important role in the reconstruction of the definition studies of Islamic ethics.