Ethics and Religion
The human views on ethics are greatly influenced by certain beliefs, such as religion or philosophical ideas. Philosophy and religion are similar in this sense; they both are morally influential. However, if a person did not have such views, he/she is still capable of having good morals. Though religion is very impacting in many people’s ethical standings, and a majority of human morality is derived from some belief in religion or supported by philosophical reasoning, it is not the only way a person can be moral. Good morality is achievable without an outside influence, and religion may, in fact, take away from human morality by influencing a person into doing what is considered to be right as a way of earning a reward in the afterlife rather than just doing what is right for the sake of doing what is good in the world.
Though religion itself can be considered a moral guideline, this may not be the complete truth. The concept of morality is that of doing what is right without expectations for reward. Religion generally has a reward system for doing good deeds. Some examples would be having good karma
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Korsgaard states that “the Kantian view is based on a pure moral right,” and that “you should run your life because it is your life.” Korsgaard also discusses that Kant wants us to treat each other equally, never “as a mere means,” meaning that a person should not treat someone as “a tool you may use to promote your own ends.” With this idea, it can be shown that humans need no outer influences to believe in to justify morality; there is no need for other reasoning supporting it. Kant and Korsgaard both support mortality, but never use religion or philosophical beliefs as a reason why we should support them. They merely state that we should have good morals. Once morality requires justification, it stops being moral and becomes a