Susan Wolf's 'Moral Saints': Not A Heavenly Existence - Moral and Ethical Philosophy Series | Ac...

Wolf defines a moral saint as “a person whose every action is as morally good as possible.” She claims there are two variants of saints: the Loving Saint and the Rational Saint. The Loving Saint’s happiness is intertwined with the happiness of others. Therefore, she behaves morally because “doing good feels good.” Meanwhile, the Rational Saint does good because he knows “it’s the right thing to do.” Behaving morally doesn’t directly benefit him; in fact, most of the time, it’s a sacrifice to do so.

**Think Further Questions
1. Wolf’s article is often attacked and hotly debated – why do you think that it is?
2. What do you think are the weaknesses of Wolf’s argument? Why?
3. What do you think are the strengths of Wolf’s argument? Why?

**Contents
00:00 - The Problem
00:18 - The Answer
00:28 - Definition of Susan Wolf’s “Moral Saints”
00:54 - How It Works
03:14 - Using It

#academy4sc #civicseducation #philosophy

[canonfodder-godtalk]

A very useful video. Such an important paper.

[manderse]

I'm glad that you posted this overview of Wolf's essay, as more people should be exposed to her argument. It's probably not easy to put these videos together, especially with the animation. At the risk of sounding obtuse, may I (in a kindly, if not saint-like, spirit) recommend that you ditch the background music for your video (as it's distracting), and reconsider some scenes in the animation (like the seemingly-random pink-shirted boy crossing from 2:59-3:11)? I don't mean to sound nitpicky or overly critical. I just assume that you would appreciate such feedback about the effect of your editing choices on your audience might be helpful, and that you want to make it as effective as possible. I was considering sharing this vid with our philosophy club, but I suspect that they (middle and high school students), too, will be put off by the annoying music and distracted by the random animations. Peace.