Social Ethics Essay Example

In the assignment, I look at Wolf’s claim of moral saint not being able to enjoy non-moral things. The claims made by Wolf are somehow contrary to the real moral saints that are. People who are staunch moral fanatics try to detach themselves from reality and exist in a cocoon of morality. I try to show that despite the theory placed by Wolf holding some water it is not sufficient to categorize all moral people as moral saints. The claim made by Wolf shows that those who are moral saints do not hold value for non-moral things. This makes those who are moral saints to be boring and uninteresting. In order to have an equally balanced moral saint it is seen that one has to integrate moral and non-moral things. This will make the person labeled as a moral saint to be all rounded.
Wolf explains what a moral saint will be and how they ought to behave in order to be a moral saint. According to Wolf, a moral saint has to sacrifice everything including their own happiness to make others happy. This shows a moral saint as a person who delights in the happiness of others. Moral saints are those who are undesirable and do not appeal to people as idols. This results due to their nature of being one sided and following the most moral ways. People place value in non-moral things yet those saints of morality will not indulge in such activities because they are non-moral. The nature of moral sainthood involves selfless sacrifice and being charitable.
Moral sainthood as presented by Susan Wolf show people who live lives filled with pursuit of morals. This pursuit of morality entails doing what makes others happy and never putting your own happiness before that of others. This raises the issue that those who are saints of morality tend to act in a manner similar to robots. This is a life unfulfilled due to the selfless sacrifices and the promotion of morality. Such a person exists without the free will to do what they please. They only exist to promote morality and make others happy. Personality and moral intuition are absent in a person when it comes to moral sainthood. They lack the ability to maintain their personality and their moral intuition is overridden by moral sainthood.
All the arguments put forward by Wolf tend to discourage the idea of the existence of a pure moral saint. She points out all the flaws in moral sainthood. I however think that her argument on the personality and moral intuition of moral saints is questionable. Most moral saints are not considered as heroes and do not have a huge appeal to people. The issue blamed for this is that their personalities are washed away by the dedication to be moral saints. This prevents them from participating in any non-moral activities. Their appeal to people reduces. The people who benefit from the actions of moral saints are the ones who praise and adore them. The people who benefited from the sainthood of these people are the ones who praise and adore them. For example, those people who mother Teresa helped were the beneficiaries of her moral sainthood. They will always consider her a hero due to her saint like deeds. Despite the flaws that are painted on moral sainthood by Wolf, it is essential they make such sacrifices for the better good. The moral saints are the main advocates for moral law and promotion of morality at all costs.