A Brief History of Ethics - Preview

A brief history of ethics VISIONARY LEADERSHIP BRIEFING

Key words: ethics> morality> values> recognition> respect> virtue> community> society> justice> responsibility> freedom> millennium goals> cosmopolitanism> utilitarianism> marxism> existentialism>

post-modernism> Nietzsche> Kant> Hume> Appiah> Velleman> Aristotle> Aquinas> Fletcher> Machiavelli> Mill> Hegel> Bradley> Honneth> Dower> leadership> globalization> global citizen> cultural traits> right and wrong> paradigms>

dogma> political theory> anticipatory thinking> self realisation> future vision> communicating with other civilisations

2 GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL white paper: a brief history of ethics

What are ethics and where do they derive from?

1. Morality: a system of ideas of right and wrong conduct.

Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804 was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Enlightenment.

Any approach to discussing ethics must begin by deconstructing the underlying theories that compose ethical discourse. The first of these theories is based on valuation; as the ethical philosopher J. David Velleman describes, values are those things that are reasonable or appropriate to desire or admire (2008).

Identifying the appropriateness of these desires can derive both from innate responses to human emotions and to socially constructed norms. These values then contribute to a morality, which is also both socially constructed and innately felt.

Valuing is a conscious decision and morality1 is as well. It is framed by the intentions that spur actions and results, therefore reflecting our own values. Kant claimed that morality is duty based and is performed without emotion, believing that such an infusion of irrationality would compromise the moral action.

Ethics, then is the composite of these values and morals and how we decide to act and why. Underlying all of these theories is a belief that humans have freedom in action and thought and are, therefore, responsible for their decisions and how they affect others.

Figure 1: The diagram represents the place that each of the components of ethics hold in society and in relation to one another.

Individual

Ethics

Goverment

Morals

Society

Values

What are some basic human values?

Hammurabi’s code is the best-preserved ancient law code, created ca. 1760 BC (middle chronology) in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi. Only one example of the Code survives today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt stone slab or stele. Originally, a number of such stelae would have been displayed in temples in various parts of the empire.

Ten Commandments are a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, were authored by God and given to Moses on the mountain referred to as “Mount Sinai” (Exodus 19:23) or “Horeb” (Deuteronomy 5:2) in the form of two stone tablets.

Al Gore (born 1948) is a U.S. environmental activist, author, businessperson, former politician, Nobel Prize recipient, Emmy winner and former journalist. He served as the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Gore also starred in the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which won an Academy Award in 2007. Gore is the recipient of a number of awards including the Nobel Peace Prize (together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in 2007.

There are certain institutions in every society that are inherently valued. These link people from across the globe even though the importance or manifestation of these values may be different.

1. Family. Familial units exist the world over and there is trust placed in this group.

2. Community. A community can be viewed by the degree of inclusiveness (the tribe to the global community) and the role that an individual may play in that group. Communities are an essential part of humanity’s social structures and most people seek a sense of belonging in one form or another.

3. Religion. Religious beliefs are socially constructed to answer humanity’s problems and to unite a community.

4. Ethical codes. From Hammurabi’s Code to the Ten Commandments, humans have been creating rules for living and enforcing them since the beginning of recorded history. These organize society and allow for the application of justice.

5. Education. Trust is placed in different systems of education, but teaching youth skills is an important part of every culture.

6. Societal relationship with nature and the earth. This has become an especially important value in Western society through the creation of property rights and is manifested in the 21st century in green movements.

Tribe is a social group associated with the family, along with the autonomy of a nation.

The tribes arise in the Neolithic period and after the association of the first tribes in the cities of civilizations arise. The term appears in ancient Rome.

4  GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL  white paper: a brief history of ethics

Why are our values different?

2. Self-awareness: awareness of your own individual entity or personality. .

Velleman points out that our actions are based on our self-awareness2. We develop this understanding of ourselves by viewing our actions as an impartial outside observer to see if they make sense. The world and the community to which an individual belongs will shade this perception. What would others think of this action?

Is it the right and appropriate thing to do in this situation? These considerations guide an individual to make a conscious decision, which is based on their culture and place within it.

How have our morals failed us in the 20th century? Theories of ethics and morality Many philosophers have spent time debating the importance of ethics and its different facets and manifestations. Questions have revolved around whether ethics are absolute or situational. Philosophers like Aristotle and Aquinas would say that morals and ethics dictate the proper action in every case. Others, like Fletcher, claim that ethics are principles that guide a decision, but are unable to definitively give the proper outcome.

Example If a woman becomes pregnant and is unsure about having a child, she would ask herself if an abortion was ethical. Aristotle and Aquinas would both say that the end was naturally determined, that she have the baby, because

of the action that she had previously taken to become pregnant. Fletcher would suggest that the woman consider whatever was the most loving thing to do and make a decision based on that feeling. If she felt that she

could not provide a good home and not bringing the child into the world was most loving, that would be the right decision, as would keeping the baby if she felt that it would be killing an indefensible human being.

Kant provided three principles of morality which state that whatever decision an individual makes they should: be prepared for anyone else in the world to act in the same way 1), treat others as an end and never as the means to an end 2), and act as if they were creating laws for the actions of others in the future 3). He also held that morality was a duty and could only be a rational response to a situation and therefore not absolute or pre-determined.