- How we create moral and ethical standards for our society?
- How and where we teach moral and ethical standards?
Discussion:
- Are morals and ethics different? Probably. There seems to be debate in our society about this.
- It is accepted by many that ethics means what is right/wrong based on reason while morals refers to what is considered right/wrong behavior based on social custom. If that is the case, then the question about morals becomes a question about social customs and how they are formed.
- Are morals and ethics determined only through religion? Many religious fundamentalists say that religion is the only source of morals and ethics while others would say that religions do not have a monopoly on morals and ethics. And thus the debate easily becomes polarized.
- Whatever their source, morals and ethics should have a sound philosophical basis.
- Peter Singer at Princeton University, amongst others, provides some interesting and challenging reading in the philosophy of morals and ethics.
- How do individuals and society develop their morals and ethics or social customs or cultures?
- How and where should morals and ethics be taught? In schools, at home, in church, at work or all of these? It seems we are stuck between doing nothing and a polarized debate.
- How do we make choices?
- Are we even conscious of the moral and ethical choices we make on a daily basis?
Ask yourself "What are my moral and ethical choices in life?"
2 comments:
I think it is important to note that there is a lot of friction and intolerance in societies due to the fact that individuals often have very differing views as to what issues are in fact questions of morals and ethics. For instance, many religious fundamentalists view things such as homesexuality/transexuality, addiction, prostitution, etc. to be issues of choice and failed or poor morality. They do not take into account factors such as genetics, environmental influences, and socioeconomic situation. To many, these issues are not moral issues at all.
Some people have a very black and white mentality around morals and ethics, and are intolerant of others who do not adhere to their strict moral code. If we could all accept and be tolerant of the fact that there is a moral and ethical spectrum and if people could get off their high horses of moral superiority, the world would be a better place.
I've studied ethics in the past and confess that not much surfaces from those efforts in reading this blog--my grey hair is sending down roots into my brain and cutting off content here and there, perhaps! (:-)
I tend to think of ethics as reasoned, self-imposed codes determined for a profession, an industry, a jurisdiction. I know that corporations, for example, can be entirely ethical while endangering the environment and human lives without guilt or restitution. All they have to do is follow the accepted regulations for their industry, conduct their business dealings legally, and they are deemed ethical, serving their bottom line.
Morals are something a little different, it seems to me, something determined in part perhaps by species memory and natural selection--eg. we don't eat our own young and know it would be immoral to do so. Of course, cultural traditions, social inculcation and religious teachings influence this inner sense of what is right and what is wrong, but those things are experienced, by me at least, as emerging from within--probably a sign of successful acculturation! Impulses to protect the young and therefore vulnerable are moral impulses. Thus a corporation can be ethical in its dealings but immoral in its impact if it threatens the young. Interesting.
As I read your post, it occurs to me that what might be more important than teaching ethical and moral standards is to cultivate moral reasoning: the capacity to weigh options, to find a place to accommodate knowledge of different cultural norms that touch upon morality, to critique things like corporate ethics. And that may be where the fundamentalists are most dangerous--i.e. the point at which they short circuit inquiry and impose political, cultural or religious doctrines (usually some mash of all those) so as to blind followers to possible options.
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