Buddhist ethics
| Abstract | There are two temptations to be resisted when approaching Buddhist moral theory. The first is to assimilate Buddhist ethics to some system of Western ethics, usually either some form of Utilitarianism or some form of virtue ethics. The second is to portray Buddhist ethical thought as constituting some grand system resembling those that populate Western metaethics. The first temptation, of course, can be avoided simply by avoiding the second. In Buddhist philosophical and religious literature we find many texts that address moral topics, and a great deal of attention devoted to accounts of virtuous and vicious actions, virtuous and vicious states of character and of virtuous and vicious lives. However, we find very little direct attention to the articulation of sets of principles that determine which actions, states of character or motives are virtuous or vicious, and no articulation of sets of obligations or rights. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Only published papers are available at libraries |
Similar books and articlesJay L. Garfield (2002). Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation. Oxford University Press.
Padmasiri De Silva (1998). Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Buddhism. St. Martin's Press.
Susanne Mrozik (2007). Virtuous Bodies: The Physical Dimensions of Morality in Buddhist Ethics. Oxford University Press.
Bronwyn Finnigan (2011). How Can a Buddha Come to Act?: The Possibility of a Buddhist Account of Ethical Agency. Philosophy East and West 61 (1):134-160.
Damien Keown (1996). Karma, Character, and Consequentialism. Journal of Religious Ethics 24 (2):329 - 350.
Mark T. Unno (1999). Review: Questions in the Making: A Review Essay on Zen Buddhist Ethics in the Context of Buddhist and Comparative Ethics. [REVIEW] Journal of Religious Ethics 27 (3):507 - 536.
Eugene Rice (2005). Buddhist Compassion as a Foundation for Human Rights. Social Philosophy Today 21:95-108.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads57 ( #17,351 of 549,122 )Recent downloads (6 months)4 ( #19,263 of 549,122 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
