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I

ICONS / ICONOCLASM. The term
“icon” comes from the Greek eikon,
meaning “image.” An icon is any image of
a religious work, such as a painting or
statue, which is used in religious worship.
In Christianity, the rosary used for prayer,
the crucifix, the statues of Mary the
Mother of Jesus, and pictures of biblical
events are all icons that are used on a
daily basis both in group and individual
worship. Buddhists have statues and pic-
tures of the Buddha and pictures of the
Dalai Lama. Hindus are most well known
for their use of icons (murtis): each indi-
vidual, family, and community have a
deity whom they worship and each deity
is represented by a statue or picture which
is decorated, sacrificed to, and treated like
a guest in the house or temple.
Icons, in each of the aforementioned
religions, are understood to be a symbol
for the deity and not the deity itself:
Hindus believe that the God(dess) enters
the icon, but the icon is only celebrated
as being one of many aspects of the
God(dess), and Buddhists do not believe
that a statue of the Buddha is the Buddha
but rather a reminder of the Buddha.

Although icons sometimes have a nega-

tive connotation (they are sometimes

associated with idols), they are typically

used as an image on which to focus dur-

ing prayer or reflection.

Iconoclasm (lit. “image breaking”),

refers to the disapproval or destruction

of any icons considered to be idols, and

its practice has often been the result of

opposing views about the proper use

of icons turning violent. For example, the

great iconoclasm of 1556 in Flanders

(called Beeldenstorm) saw much Roman

Catholic art destroyed by mobs of Protes-

tant reformers emboldened after public

sermons.

IDEAL OBSERVER THEORY. This

theory analyzes moral judgments in

terms of how a subject would form evalu-

ations under heightened conditions. An

ideal observer theory can be found in the

thought of Adam Smith, Henry Sidgwick,

and to some extent Immanuel Kant and

J. S. Mill. Ideal moral observation has

been described as constituted by ideal

forms of impartiality, knowledge of all the