Ethics PhD and ThD
Qualifying Examination Question Archive
Contents
Exam 1: Religion, Social Thought, and the Social Sciences
Exam
2: Western Philosophical Resources for Ethical Reasoning; Social and Ethical Teachings of Christianity and Other Religions
What
is religious evolution? How does Bellah explain it? How do you evaluate
his understanding of religious evolution?
The
definition of religion and the sociological perspective on religion are
important in religious studies. Choose two of the following thinkers who
dealt with these problems and discuss their views. Geertz, Berger, Freud,
Bellah, Eliade, or one other scholar of your own choice.
Throughout
Durkheim's works the theme of social cohesion is of central importance.
How does he understand religion and how does religion relate to social
cohesion? How would you relate Durkheim’s discussion of social cohesion
to an analysis of the contemporary situation in America?
What
are the contributions to religious studies of two of the following: Eliade,
Berger, Wuthnow, Geertz, and H.R. Niebuhr?
Compare
two of the following figures on the question of the nature and function of
religion: Marx, Freud, Geertz, Durkheim, Malinowski, or another figure of
your choice.
What
are the major arguments that Weber makes in his Sociology of Religion?
What
is Weber's so called “Protestant Ethic” thesis? Critically assess both
his argument for this thesis and two responses to his argument.
In
view of Weber's study of China, how do you account for the recent economic
development of East Asia? Explain whether you find a Protestant ethic
analogy there.
Select
one of Weber's comparative historical studies of religion and society
(e.g., China, India, Ancient Judaism). State Weber’s main thesis and
discuss his arguments in the context of his overall scheme for the study
of world religions and societies.
How
does Weber explain the social location of religious ideas in relation to
the phenomena of innovation and historical breakthrough?
How
do Bellah and his associates diagnose the troubles of American society?
What theoretical framework and conceptualization do they use in their
analysis? In the light of your own readings in religion, society, and
ethics, do you go along with them?
How
do you explain social change, especially as related to cultural change?
What is the best analytical approach to the problems of social and
cultural change? What would be the most comprehensive and helpful concept
or concepts that can explain change in contemporary societies?
What
sociological theories are useful for making sense of American religion?
Discuss them briefly, but choose one of them—say, civil religion, or
American quest for the problem of meaning, or something else—and discuss
it more fully.
What
is the role of religion in social change? Refer to the ideas of either (i) two
classical thinkers or (ii) two modern theorists.
Is
there a crisis of institutions in American society? If so, why? If not,
why do some sociologists mistakenly think there is? How do you
conceptualize the role and health of social institutions?
How
is religion related to social movements and social change? How do theories
of religion and social change register the themes of human agency and
historical consciousness?
What
is globalization? What would be the typical problems that religion would
encounter in the process of globalization? How can religion cope with the
problem of globalization?
Discuss
some of the key issues in human rights today.
How
is religion related to social stability, order, and change? How can the
concepts of ideology and utopia be used fruitfully in explaining social
change? Discuss these questions by means of a comparison between two
contrasting theories.
Select
one of MacIntyre, Nussbaum, and Sen, Giddens. Identify and discuss what
you consider to be the major theme in his or her sociological thought.
How
does MacIntyre’s understanding of history and sociology affect his
diagnosis of the moral disorder of our times, and his prescription for
this ailment?
Trace
the historical and intellectual background of the emergence of the main
currents in contemporary sociological thought. Include in your discussion
at least two of the following thinkers: Montesquieu, Comte, Tocqueville,
Pareto, Mannheim, Habermas.
What
are some of the central organizing principles or concepts for thinking
about changes in contemporary society that are occurring now? In your
answer, draw upon at least two of the following figures: Drucker,
Huntington, Daly & Cobb, Kennedy, or another figure of your choice.
Discuss
Huntington’s so-called “conflict of civilizations” thesis and its
relation to religious nationalism.
What
do you think are the major contributions of Marx to social thought in
general and sociology in particular? Include in your discussion Marx's
intellectual genealogy and his influence.
Choose
two of the following social thinkers and explain their theories of social
change and modernization: Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Bell.
What
is the state of critical social theory? Discuss one leading scholar’s
view of it, relating his or her view to the tradition of social thought
prior to his or her work.
Select
one of the following pairs of contrasting ideas: (i) the state and
individualism, (ii) community and civil society, (iii) moral
authority and moral freedom, (iv) hierarchy and equality, (v) eternal
peace and the clash of civilizations, (vi) deontology and
utilitarianism, or (vii) the sacred and rationality. Discuss the
presence of this conflict in the tradition of social thought.
How
is religion related to modernity? Include a discussion of fundamentalism
in your answer.
“The
concept of ‘civilizational conflict’ is overrated and overused. Why do
sociologists stress civilizational conflict so much when it appears that
the world is becoming more uniformly secular and consumer culture is
having a unifying impact throughout the world?” Discuss.
What
are some of the issues in the sociological debates over modernity? Choose
one of the scholars who has dealt in detail with this theme and discuss
his or her views.
Where
do the social theories of Durkheim, Malinowski, and Freud agree and where
do they disagree? What underlying features of their thought account for
the pattern of agreements and disagreements?
Some
theorists analyze the civil religion of modern nations in terms of the
categories of religious collective representations and rituals. What is
behind this line of thinking? How does Durkheim's understanding of society
relate to this view?
What
are the major contributions to the sociological study of religion of two
of the following: Marx-Engels, Troeltsch, and H.R. Niebuhr? Compare their
sociological approaches with that of Weber.
Do
you think that religion evolves in stages from primitive to modern? What
can we learn from the anthropologcal study of religion about this and
related questions?
Choose
two interpretations or models of social change (e.g., cyclical,
evolutionary, Marxist, comparative, etc.). Explain what they are and
evaluate their strengths and weaknesses as theoretical models. Cover such
concepts as "evolution," "progress,"
"differentiation," and "development" in your answer.
Contemporary
theories of social change include the concept of "modernization"
as a leading conceptual model. Explain the cause, the process, and the
consequences of modernization. You may choose to discuss a theorist or two
in your answer.
How
does religion function as ideology and utopia?
What
are some of the central organizing principles or concepts for thinking
about the changes in contemporary society that are occurring now? Draw
upon the ideas of Sztempka in your answer.
What
are the main concerns of Marx, Weber, and Durkehim about social reality?
Discuss similarities and differences among them.
What
are the relations between meaning, cultural tradition, and social change?
Discuss the problem in the context of two of the following religious and
social situations: Korea, China, Japan, North America, Latin America,
India, Pakistan.
What
are the major contributions of H.R. Niebuhr to the sociology of religion?
Mannheim,
Marx, Habermas, Geertz, Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Ricoeur provided
important theories of ideology and utopia. Compare and contrast two of
these thinkers.
What
are the roles of religious ideas and culture in social and economic
development? Include in your answer a discussion of the ideas of two of
the following figures: Weber, Bellah, and another thinker of your
choosing.
How
is religion related to modernity? In your answer, include a discussion of
fundamentalisms.
How
are globalization and modernization the same or different?
What
is globalization? What are typical problems that religions encounter in
the process of globalization? How do religions cope with the problem of
globalization?
How
do people construct symbolic reality? Can religion be understood as a
cultural-symbolic system?
How
and why did Weber study religion comparatively in history and society?
How
do you account for the contemporary fundamentalist movements in the United
Stated and the Middle East?
How
do you account for the New Christian Right in the United Stated?
Discuss
the assumptions and ideas about the individual person and society in two
of the following thinkers: Machiavelli, Bentham, Hobbes, Locke, Hume,
Burke, Rousseau, Calvin, and Luther.
Discuss
the assumptions and ideas about the individual person and society in two
of the following thinkers: Mencius, Hsun Tzu, Lao Tzu, and Chuang Tzu.
Discuss
the assumptions and ideas about the individual person and society in two
of the following thinkers: Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, or Luther.
Compare
the meaning and function of the "social contract" in Hobbes,
Locke, and Rousseau.
There
are several theories of justice (e.g., Nozick’s libertarian theory,
Rawls’ liberal view, as well as Platonic, Aristotelian, and Augustinian
views). Explain your view of justice in discussion with alternatives.
Discuss
the development of the concept of natural law in the Western philosophical
tradition.
Compare
the idea of natural law in Stoicism with the idea in Aquinas or another
Christian thinker.
Explain
why Kant is considered a watershed thinker in Ethics. Identify and
critique a major problem in his ethical analysis.
Compare
and contrast the ethical theories of three or four major Greek
philosophical schools.
Discuss
critically Marx as a social philosopher. How does his use of
"dialectics" differ from that of Hegel?
Discuss
the use of money, work, and economics in the ethical theories of two
contrasting Christian thinkers.
Discuss
the use of money, work, and economics in the ethical theories of two
contrasting non-Western religious thinkers.
Is
Christianity uniquely qualified to address the pressing issues of justice
and peace or are other religions just as well qualified to handle such
issues? If so, why and how? Draw on the thought of Hick, Knitter,
Gustafson, Küng, or other Jewish and Christian thinkers in your answer.
State
and discuss one Christian religious criticism of homo economicus
and one criticism from a representative of another major world religion
(e.g., Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism).
Discuss
the view of Daly & Cobb that economy, ecology, and religious vision
must and can come together if human beings are to save their planetary
home and protect their own future.
Explain
the relevance of a comparative religious perspective for the contemporary
discussion of human rights.
What
are the major issues in studying comparative religious ethics?
What
are the virtues and liabilities of (i) local theological ethics and
(ii) comparative ethics? How do you reconcile the culturally
particular and universal in doing ethics and theology?
“In
doing ethics after Babel, what we need is a moral language of Esperanto
that can forge a common bond of communication across cultures. Nothing
less can help local cultures meet their urgent need for universal
categories with which to deal with an increasingly globalized society.”
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Develop your answer in
relation to one of the following specific issues: economic ethics, the
relation between the individual and society, and human rights.
Discuss
the major ethical tenets of liberation theology as expressed by
representatives of two of the following regions of the world: Latin
America, Africa, and Asia. Explain the relevance of this theology for
contemporary religious and social situations, particularly as these are
impacted by the global economy.
What
are the main structural characteristics of the development of the
Christian church's social stances throughout its history? How did
differences develop between Protestant and Catholic attitudes to one of
the following issues: (i) state and society or (ii) war and
peace? Refer to both classic and contemporary sources in your answer.
Can
there be a global ethic? How? Refer to two of Küng, Stout, and Macquarrie
in your answer.
Compare
a representative Confucian view of hedonism and utilitarianism with a
representative Taoist view.
What
are the major themes in the three ways of ethical thought in China:
Confucianism, Taoism, and Realism or Legalism? What are the major
similarities and differences among them? Identify and discuss a view
within Christian ethical thought that is similar to one of these schools
of thought.
Compare
and contrast the relationship between Church and State in the thought of
Augustine, Luther, and Calvin.
Compare
and contrast the major contributions to modern Christian moral thought of
three of the following: Troeltsch, Rauschenbush, Reinhold Niebuhr, H.R.
Niebuhr, Muelder, Bennett, Tillich, Brunner, and Gustafson.
In
East Asian traditions of religion and morality we find key polar ideas
such as the Confucian idea of yu-wei vs. the Taoist idea of wu-wei,
li-ch’I vs. yin-yang,
orthodoxy vs. heterodoxy, inner vs. outer in spatial symbolism, and
righteousness (i) vs. profit (li). Explain and discuss one of these pairs of ideas.
Compare
and contrast Aristotle’s or Aquinas’ theory of virtue with a Confucian
theory of virtue.
Compare
the notion of the self and society in two representative thinkers from the
following religious traditions: Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, and
Hinduism.
“The
global economy is out of control. It is destroying precious cultures and
ripping apart the social fabric of life for millions of people.” Do you
agree with this statement? If so, why? If not, why not?
How
do you go about ethical reasoning from a comparative perspective? Answer
with reference to a concrete issue or the thought of one ethical theorist.
What
are some of the problems associated with the plurality of moral languages
(“ethics after Babel”)?
Discuss
the meaning of a world ethic in the context of “the clash of
civilizations.”
How
could religion have anything to do with economics or business? Discuss the
basic relations between the two. In this context, discuss the insights of
Max Weber, R.H. Tawney, and one other thinker who has made significant
contributions to understanding the problem.
Discuss
the contemporary Christian church’s position toward the transnational
economy. Explain what you take to be the correct view of the matter.
Can
multinational corporations act with moral integrity when their primary
commitment is to make profits?
Can
business ethics debate really make a difference, given the importance to
most businesses of the quest for the maximization of profit?
Can
there be a world ethic? What is the meaning of a minimalist common
morality in such a quest? How can such an ethic make a difference in a
global economy?
What
are the potentialities and limitations of theological ethics for a
workable international or transnational business ethics?
Can
religion really justify wealth-making?
Summarize
and evaluate Catholic social teaching on economic justice.
Compare
and contrast a Protestant view of economic justice with the official
Catholic teaching.
Discuss
the potential influence of religious ideas and commitments on the
corporate culture of a business organization.
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