THE SEARCH FOR GUIDING VALUES AS THE 'PROBLEM OF ETHICS'
theme: The concern for the 'problem of ethics' is the search for guiding values in the resolution of human problems. Resolution of perplexing issues of 'ethics' and 'morality' is possible with analysis in terms of biological principles rather than in terms of philosophical speculation. The human conscience is the source of a 'natural ethics'. Natural ethics is moral intelligence or 'morality'. Morality is moral consciousness or 'conscience'. Conscience is an emergent property of the human organ for making meaning or 'learning' and learning is the natural function of the 'brain'.
"Making choices and decisions according to his own organismic valuing process, the individual lives by values which facilitate his own survival, adaptation, self-enhancement and the enhancement of the human race. Like other species of the animal kingdom, Homo Sapiens, the social human animal, naturally behaves in accordance with an organismic valuing process which enables him to adapt to his changing social environment .... With the recognition of the potential universality of the organismic valuing process of the human being, the perplexing issues of 'values' and ethics could be resolved. (Rogers, C. "Person to Person: The Problem of Being Human" Real People Press, Lafayette, California l967)
What is the meaning of the word 'ethics'? Ethics is a branch of philosophy known as 'moral philosophy'. Moral philosophy is about life and how it should be lived. And so ethics is about the philosophy of life and how it governs our dealings with our fellow human beings and the world we live in... also the world we live on - planet 'earth'.
Origin of the word 'ethics' The word 'ethics' comes from the Greek word 'ethicos' which is derived from the root 'ethos' which originally meant both 'custom' and 'character'. The customs of a community are the social mores which form its character or 'ethos'. This original broad meaning of the word 'ethics' came to refer to the formation and perfection of human character and human 'virtues'. Later the word was used to define the virtues. Eventually it was used to describe the philosophy dealing with the ideals of human relatedness. Webster defined ethics as both 'the science of moral values and duties' and as 'the study of the ideal human character, actions, and ends'. The confusion between custom and ideal character still exists. The modern meaning of the term 'ethics' is based on the American concept of morality as ethical conduct dictated by external authorities i.e. 'moralism'. According to the dictates of moralism, a social community is possible only if all the individuals are united by a communally fixed moral order.
The moralistic view is based on a mistrust of human nature and belief in the innate wickedness of human nature i.e. 'evil'.
Mistrust of human nature as basis for relativistic concept of ethics or 'ethical relativism' Mistrust of human nature is derived from the notion that human existence involves separate material and spiritual realms a notion which originated with the scientific revolution of the eighteenth century 'Enlightenment'. The conceptual dichotomy between matter and spirit was incorporated into the 'scientific' worldview and forms the basis of the discontinuity between natural and 'supernatural', the person and 'God'. The profound mistrust of human nature is derived from the 'Fall/Redemption' theology' of 'orthodox' Protestant Christianity which was adopted by the Protestant Calvinist and Puritan movements. According to the theology, as a result of the original 'fall' from God's grace, each individual is brought into this life tainted with sin and is therefore inherently corrupt and must suffer in this life. Even an afterlife without suffering depends on God's redemption. In the moralistic view, the individual is expected to be morally responsibile for restraining the evil impulses of their basic nature even though they are considered to be powerless and insignificant. Since it is not possible to live without values and norms, people are expected to rely on the authority of strict codes of civil law and moral standards set in the form of 'codes of ethics'. The ethical codes are irrational value systems which are formulated according to the interests of different occupations. There is 'medical ethics', 'business ethics', 'military ethics' and so on. This relativistic concept of ethics makes value judgements and ethical norms a matters of arbitrary preference.
Ethical relativism is based on the belief that there is no way to make objectively valid statements about ethics. Only those individuals who abide by the codes are considered to be ethical and only they can be made responsible for teaching and preaching the moral life.
'Problem of ethics' is peculiar to American culture The so-called 'problem of ethics' is peculiar to American capitalist culture. Capitalistic economic theories of modern technological society teach people that their aim in life is the successful fulfillment of their duty to work. They are made to believe that they need to work for money, prestige and power in order to achieve happiness. They are persuaded to make everything important except life and the art of living. They act against their basic instinct for self-preservation while under the illusion that they act in their own self-interest. Ignoring their true self, their integrity and their intrinsic faith in human dignity and courage, they lose sight of the fact that it is in their 'real' self-interest to live in harmony with themselves and their fellow human beings. Instead they value themselves (and others) on the basis of material success.
"It was primarily the physicists and the astronomers who created the Weltanschaung and the subculture known as 'science' ...including all its goals, methods, axiomatic values, concepts, languages, folkways, prejudices, selective blindnesses, hidden assumptions. The impersonal model failed with the personal, the unique, the holistic... the fully human person... The fatal weakness of science is its inability to deal impersonally with the personal, with the problems of individuality, of consciousness, of beauty, of transcendance, of value, of ethics. (Maslow Psychology of Science xiii)
Coercive social system leads to distortion of human values This coercive social system leads to a confusion of values: 'freedom' is confused with licence, 'adaptation' with conformism, 'discipline' with submissiveness, 'independence' with antiauthoritarianism, 'equality' with uniformity, 'individuality' with selfishness.
The distortion of social values produces an infantile attitude toward the social system, mirrored in the child's reaction to dominant and intolerant parents and further cultivated by the demands of the system. Not valued for their intrinsic morality, people become morally confused. In their moral confusion, they learn to depend on behavioural norms which are prescribed in the form of codes of ethics. Codes of ethics are formuated on the basis of the assumption that human nature is basically corrupt and evil.
Based on the mistaken idea that the interests of the individual and of the society are mutually exclusive and antagonistic, the notion that the function of civilization is to control instinctive human impulses gives rise to insoluble pseudoproblems or 'problems of ethics'.
'How can the interests of the individual be reconciled with the interests of the society?' 'How is it possible to formulate a philosophical system of ethics which can be applied to the teaching of values? How does one teach the virtues? How does one formulate a 'science of ethics?' 'How can people be made to lead ethical lives?'. Answers to such questions have been attempted for centuries.
Theologians and philosophers have sought the same guiding values, theology depending on the authority of dogma and philosophy denying it. The religions have looked to some external authority - a God, sacred book, ruling elite, ruling individual or some set of universal principles such as the Ten Commandments. Philosophy has tried to formulate systems of morals in terms of universally fixed sets of ethics. According to the law of moral universality, ethics is a matter of universal morals which are applicable to any specific human situation. Humanists have attempted to construct a naturalistic value system that could be derived from a knowledge of human nature i.e. 'humanistic ethics'. And scientists have attempted to use the scientific method of the impersonal model of science in its narrow meaning of science as orthodox science or 'scientism'.
The fatal weakness of scientism is its inability to deal impersonally with human problems of individuality, consciousness, ego-transcendance, values and ethics.
The problem of ethics is one which deals with the personal, the unique and the holistic. It deals with those aspects of human nature which give rise to the expanded consciousness of 'humaness' i.e. 'ego-transcendance'... defines the core of the human personality or 'human nature'.
Age old teaching of mistrust in human nature The problem of ethics cannot be resolved if it is stated in the form of a question which in its very asking makes assumptions that render the question meaningless. Throughout human history, people have been taught that their intrinsic human instincts are 'animal instincts' and therefore immoral and not to be trusted. The result is dichotomous concepts of human nature in terms of polarities such as selfish-unselfish, good-evil and so on. These age-old axioms of human nature imply that the reality of 'what is' is mutually exclusive from the reality of 'what ought to be'. Consequently it is believed to be necessary to search for guiding values to live by. Attempts have been made to formulate a system of ethics which is based on the premise that ethical values belong to a domain which is external to human nature. This notion has served as the basic premise for many ethical systems which have been built in the style of Aristotelian logic. Even though the premise is fallacious, the ethical systems which are built onto it are intrinsically logical.
Approach the problem of ethics from a holistic perspective of human nature The problem of ethics is a product of logical deduction from a false premise. It is the falsity of the premise which creates the moral dilemma. The dilemma is a pseudodilemma resulting from ignorance of the holistic perception of human nature. The age-old problem of ethics can be resolved if it is based on the assumption that human nature is potentially good and productive. The problem of ethics must be approached from the perspective of a science which incorporates the expanded consciousness of the human mind i.e. 'holistic science'. A scientifically objective approach is possible if the objectivity is based on a holistic view of the human organism as a social organism.
Ethical living or 'ethicality' is a question of moral intelligence or 'morality' Morality is exercising the human responsibility for living in reality as it is (requires holistic perspective and objectivity... living in the 'truth'.
The assumption that the human individual is naturally unsocial is false. It makes no sense to assume that civilized social life is incompatible with freedom.
The problem of ethics is a matter of individual freedom and moral consciousness or 'conscience'. The human conscience is the unconscious perception of human nature and human motives i.e. 'human needs'. Human needs are human values and they include spiritual values for spiritual growth - the 'metaneeds'.
conscience... The guiding values which have been prescribed by religions and philosophies can be found within a person's consciousness or 'conscience'.
When people are taught that they should despise their human nature ('I am only human') then they cannot have respect for their own needs or the needs of others.
Each individual has a biologically inherited potential for moral consciousness i.e. 'intrinsic conscience'. Development of the conscience depends on recognition and Development of a rational conscience is 'moral development'. Moral development depends on respect for the intrinsic biological necessities of human nature the human needs.
When human needs are met, the rest follows naturally because each individual has a unique potentiality for personal decision making based on their free will, their sense of responsibility, strength and courage. It is the rational human conscience which is the source of the guiding values sought by religions and philosophies. The human conscience is the source of a 'natural ethics'. True morality is the morality of free conscience i.e. 'freedom'.