By Joshua Knobe from The New York Times. "...The study of human nature, whether in Nietzsche or in a contemporary psychology journal, is obviously relevant to certain purely scientific questions, but how could this sort of work ever help us to answer the distinctive questions of philosophy? It may...

In February, Union University in Jackson, TN will host a conference called "Making Men Moral: The Public Square and the Role of Moral Judgment." The dates of the conference are February 25-27, 2009. Speakers at the conference will be professors known for their work in ethics and morality, including...

This Washington Post editorial uses information from various fields to argue that moral virtue does not have its origins in religion. Source: The Washington Post A growing sector of world civilization is secular; that is, it emphasizes worldly rather than religious values. This is especially true of...

By Gilbert Meilaender In essays written throughout his career, Stanley Hauerwas has unfolded a Christian vision of the marriage bond and the presence of children that seeks insistently to place these seemingly natural bonds within the new family of God that is the church. I examine his understanding...

By Nancy Snow An excerpt: In five chapters, an introduction, and a short epilogue, Stan van Hooft conveys in highly readable and non-technical prose most of what is important about hope. He distinguishes hope from hopefulness, and uses the Aristotelian template of virtue as a mean between extremes to...

Culture, Altruism, and Conflict Between Ancestors and Descendants By Mary Kathryn Coe, Amber Palmer, Craig T. Palmer, and Carl L. DeVito Abstract: Anthropologists often recorded the typical amount of kinship altruism – that is, the altruism between individuals who identify one another as kin -- they...

By Chen Lai Abstract: This essay focuses on the unity of several virtues in pre-Qin Confucians. Confucius maintains the proper application and coherence of such virtues as benevolence, wisdom, trustworthiness, straightforwardness, courage, and firmness. Further, Confucius takes benevolence and nobility...

By Jesse Couenhoven Virtue and deontological ethics are now commonly contrasted as rival approaches to moral inquiry. However, I argue that neither metaethical party should seek complete, solitary domination of the ethical domain. Reductive treatments of the right or the virtuous, as well as projects...

By Thomas Ryan 'Compassion’—an engaging yet troublesome word? Recent studies on Thomas Aquinas prompt a reconsideration of the place of compassion as an emotion and a virtue in his treatment of the Christian moral life. Through an analysis of relevant texts in Thomas and in relation to contemporary...

By Paul M. Blowers While abundant recent studies have illuminated the social and cultural realities underlying Christian responses to poverty in late antiquity, the present essay investigates the unique challenges to Christian preachers in cultivating a moral psychology of compassion. Drawing on the...

By Oliver Putz Recent advances in evolutionary biology and ethology suggest that humans are not the only species capable of empathy and possibly morality, suggesting that the concept of the imago Dei could be extended to accommodate moral species other than our own. Read the article . Image from Flickr...

By Wioleta Polinska Whether compassion for all beings in Buddhism, or “love of enemy” in Christianity, unconditional love signifies one of the principal concerns of all world religions. The profound wisdom of various religious traditions has inspired many to embrace the ideal of universal compassion...

Abstract: Interest in the insights of psychology has become part of our culture. Psychological solutions are advanced for a whole host of moral dilemmas. How should an ethically-minded Christian include insights from such disciplines as psychoanalysis, cognitive moral development and neuroscience in...