By Arjit Sethi
“Whether men understand it or not, they are impelled by that power behind to becomeunselfish. That is the foundation of morality. It is the quintessence of all ethics, preached inany language, or any religion, or by any prophet in the world. “Be thou unselfish”, “Not ‘I’, but‘Thou'” – that is the background of ethical codes.”
-Swami Vivekanand
With rising cases of crime in our vicinity and the indifferent attitude we all possess, I bring to light the extreme need of the hour, our Ethics.
According to Vedanta one of the world’s most ancient religious philosophies based on theVedas, the sacred Hindu scriptures of India, it is crucially important that our thoughts andactions be governed by ethical values and habits.Vedanta, is in agreement with Socrates in holding the view that the practice of virtue should bepreceded by a rational understanding of the implications and the nature of virtue. It says thatViveka (understanding) should precede Vairagya (dispassion) and the practice of Shatsampat (six ethical virtues tranquility, training, withdrawal, forbearance, faith and focus), arecultivated to stabilize the mind and emotions.
Mahatma Gandhi, Father of India, promoted non-violence, justice and harmony betweenpeople of all faiths. Satyagraha, Gandhi’s approach to conflict, was to “hold firmly to Truth. Hestressed that people follow ethical principles and listed following seven Social Sins:
(i) Politics without Principles.
(ii) Wealth without work.
(iii) Commerce without Morality.
(iv) Knowledge without Character.
(v) Pleasure without Conscience.
(vi) Science without humanity.
(vii) Worship without sacrifice.
Simply stated, ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought toact in the many situations in which they find themselves-as friends, parents, children, citizens, teachers, professionals, and so on. It is helpful to identify what ethics is NOT:
Ethics is not the same as feelings. Feelings provide important information for our ethicalchoices. Some people have highly developed habits that make them feel bad when they dosomething wrong, but many people feel good even though they are doing something wrong.And often our feelings will tell us it is uncomfortable to do the right thing if it is hard.
Ethics is not religion. Many people are not religious, but ethics applies to everyone. Mostreligions do advocate high ethical standards but sometimes do not address al the types ofproblems we face.
Ethics is not following the law. A good system of law does incorporatemany ethical standards, but Law can deviate from what is ethical. Law can become ethicallycorrupt, as some totalitarian regimes have made it. Law can be made to be a function ofpower alone and designed to serve the interests of narrow groups. Law may have a difficulttime designing or enforcing standards in some important areas, and may be slow to addresscnew problems.
Ethics is not following culturally accepted norms. Some cultures are quite ethical, but othersbecome corrupt or blind to certain ethical concerns (as the United States was to slavery beforethe Civil War or to using atomic weapons on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki). “When inRome, do as the Romans do” is not a satisfactory ethical standard.
Ethics is not science. Social and natural science can provide important data to help us makebetter ethical choices. But science alone does not tell us what we ought to do. Science mayprovide an explanation for what humans are like. But ethics provides reasons for how humansought to act. And just because something is scientifically or technologically possible, it maynot be ethical to do it.
The root word for Ethics is the Greek “ethos,” meaning “character”, while the root word for Moral is Latin “mos,” meaning” custom.”Character and custom, however, provide two very different standards for defining what is right and what is wrong. Character is a personal attribute, while custom is defined by a group over time. People have character. Societies have custom. To violate either can be said to be wrong, within its appropriate frame of reference.
Arjit Sethidid his schooling from DPS R.K.Puram. Currently, he is a student member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He represented his school and received the Gobartimes Award from Mrs. Sheila Dixit. He also secured the School Rank 1 in the International Mathematics Olympiad.He belongs to New Delhi and has a great fondness for the street food as most of the Delhiites, and is addicted to soccer. The best thing he likes about himself is his punctuality. He is extremely attracted to the Indian Bureaucracy and has a great desire to be its part one day.
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