An aesthetic perspective on the cosmos is better able to support the religious view that all is ultimately cared for than are the usually employed
ethical criteria for evaluating things.
A
principal ethical criterion must be the effects of globalization on the people who do not currently have the economic or political power to be part of our conversation.
If we were to evaluate the universe purely in terms
of ethical criteria of value we might be tempted toward cosmic pessimism.
I suggested in the previous chapter that an aesthetic perspective on the cosmos is better able to support the religious view that all is ultimately cared for than are the usually
employed ethical criteria for evaluating things.
It has tried instead to develop and put
forward ethical criteria, rooted in the Christian theological tradition, and to begin the process of applying those criteria to energy issues in a straightforward and responsible manner.
... Discovery that the universe apart from man or before his coming lacks and lacked any purpose or plan has the inevitable corollary that the workings of the universe can not provide any automatic, universal, eternal, or
absolute ethical criteria of right and wrong.11
Even according to
such ethical criteria, however, I think in all fairness we have to acknowledge the extent to which the universe also manifests what we may call «care.»
As part of the PR surrounding the launch of Ecotricity's green gas product, the company explained that it has very
strict ethical criteria for sourcing biogas:
Designed with a detailed search facility — so that you can find exactly what you're looking for in seconds, for example specific products, companies based in specific countries or with
specific ethical criteria and / or certification.
Minimum
Ethical Criteria For All Post-Kyoto Regime Proposals: What Does Ethics Require of A Copenhagen Outcome
Terms like «socially responsible investing», or «ethical investing» are falling out of favour because they have moral overtones, leftover from the days when investors chose stocks based on religious or
ethical criteria, for example.
Salvation in an aesthetic scheme is not the same as being secured within a universal harmony structured according to
ethical criteria.
Instead I see the aesthetic teleological vision as one in which we may break out of the confines of
the ethical criteria usually employed in theodicies that have proven to be unsatisfactory for the reasons outlined so clearly in Kushner's fine book.
In placing the cosmos in an aesthetic perspective we are following the impulse of a religious vision which acknowledges the inadequacy of
our ethical criteria of good and evil.
When critics of teleology reject the idea of purpose in the universe their suspicions are almost always framed according to
ethical criteria.
The committee's report finds that human embryo editing may be acceptable to prevent a baby from inheriting a serious genetic disease — but only if specific safety and
ethical criteria are met.
If compulsion is to be applied, there should be legal and
ethical criteria to govern the process, including transparent methods of decision making, defined criteria to determine «entry» and enable «exit» from the scheme, and the right to appeal and review.