In the previous post in this new series we made the distinction between morals, the (extremely variable) quality of character which motivates the choices and actions of individuals, and ethics which is a set of rules that human societies get together and agree on for mutually hospitable co-habitation. Ethics are set down by societies, religions, political bodies, sports associations, to make sure everyone concerned behaves in a way that does not disrupt the entire group. Ethics are collectively articulated and socially enforced. They are usually in response to a particular variety of bad behavior that everyone decides they want to restrict in order to keep the peace.
Of course it may not be everyone deciding, just those in control of the community, politics, organization, whatever. And it may not really benefit everyone, just those in the power positions of the community, politics, organization, whatever. And the ethics decided and enforced may not even correspond to the inner moral sense of many of the people being enforced into compliance with the ethical standards of the community, politics, organization, whatever. So ethics are collectively decided and enforced with qualifications about who qualifies to decide and enforce.
Morals, on the other hand, are the personal internal gyroscope in each person's psyche that governs the direction, focus, and choices of their individual life. But we each derive our moral sense from a whole variety of sources.
Our families may foster a particular moral sense in either positive or negative ways. We decide from a young age that the morals we see in our family are those that we feel safe with, comfortable with, inspired by. Or we find that the family atmosphere is destroying our spirit and we decide to "never do it like they do." The same can be the case for the extended communities in which we grow up, receive our education and form our values.
Generally, some of us adopt the morals and ethics of our childhood environment without question. Some of us pick and choose what we will keep for ourselves and then go out to explore what other values and morals we might find in other places. Some just throw the whole thing over in disgust.
Morality, our personal set of values, can be based on shared cultural values; it can come from accepted divine revelation of a religious tradition; it can arise from a common historical tradition. It can be composed of bits of all of these and our own evaluations of our life experiences. And all of this may or may not integrate smoothly with the ethics of the community or society in which we each live and interact.
Hey, that's life! Life is inherently challenging. That's what makes it work. That's what drives the evolution of our humanity as well as all of the natural and biological structures of the universe. So is there any possibility for a universal ethic based on the natural human tendency for empathy, which could actually work both at the internal moral level of experience as well as the collective external ethical level of experience and actually make our lives together more interactively rewarding and emotionally safe and fulfilling?
To explore this possibility, see the next blog
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