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Higher RMPS
Lesson 1
An introduction to morality
Learning intentions
After today’s lesson you will be able to:
• define the terms ‘morality’ and ‘meta-ethics’
• explain the terms ‘autonomous’ and ‘heteronomous’.
Morality
Morality is something that is concerned with
right and wrong.
Human beings make decisions about what is
right and wrong every day.
THINK OF SOME EXAMPLES…
Make fun of a younger pupil
on the way to school
Jump the queue
getting on the
school bus
Hold the door open
in the corridor for the
people coming
behind you
Right
and
wrong
Pay for your crisps
and can of juice
before you leave
the shop
Walkabout talkabout
20 minutes
How do we know what is right and wrong?
Meta-ethics is the study of what makes
things right or wrong.
Have you heard anyone saying that humans just
have a ‘sense of morality’, they ‘just know the
difference between right and wrong’ – some
people believe that all humans have a sense of
morality.
So where do we get this sense of morality from?
Surely it has to come from somewhere, or does it?
Many believe it comes from a greater being - God?
The relationship between
moral values and religion
Some people believe that moral values are autonomous.
The word auto means self. To believe that moral values
are autonomous means that we decide our moral values
ourselves. We use human reason to decide what is right
and wrong. We do not decide by listening to religious
teaching whether our moral values are autonomous or not.
The relationship between
moral values and religion
Some people believe that moral values are heteronomous.
The word hetero means different. To believe that moral
values are heteronomous means that moral values are
decided by someone different, usually a greater being
like God. Heteronomous means that moral values are
decided by what religions teach.
Quick recap
• Morality is something that is concerned with right and
wrong.
• Meta-ethics is the study of what makes things right or
wrong.
• To believe that moral values are autonomous means that
we decide our moral values ourselves.
• To believe that moral values are heteronomous means
that moral values are decided by someone different,
usually a greater being like God.