Ramanisblog

Tag: Ethics

  • Where the Wild Things Are- On Character.

    Predominant and repeatedly performed actions which are individual specific may be defined as Character. (Psychological Definition)
    This does not mean the individual shall behave exactly in tune with his character at all times, is correct, as he is torn between what his character or predominant inclination tells him to do and the exigencies of the situation.
    One who has principles or will shall do what is ethically right and that is what differentiates man from animals.
    Character, like traits, can not be quantified. That is the reason for this dichotomy of views.
    Human beings are not machines to perform within specified parameters.
    Well, to describe Character to a Psychologist is,-as William McKenzie observed on ‘Goodness’-‘you can not describe what yellow is to a man who is born blind”
    Certain things in life are felt; can not be analyzed.
    Time that psychologists first define, Feelings, Emotions, Will, Traits, Personality, I; then they can start doing experiments and studies. These concepts, at best are described by them, not defined.
    Story:
    In Homer’s poetry, every hero has a trait. Achilles is angry. Odysseus is cunning. And so was born one picture of character and conduct.

    In this view, what you might call the philosopher’s view, each of us has certain ingrained character traits. An honest person will be honest most of the time. A compassionate person will be compassionate.

    These traits, as they say, go all the way down. They shape who we are, what we choose to do and whom we befriend. Our job is to find out what traits of character we need to become virtuous.

    But, as Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Princeton philosopher, notes in his book “Experiments in Ethics,” this philosopher’s view of morality is now being challenged by a psychologist’s view. According to the psychologist’s view, individuals don’t have one thing called character.

    The psychologists say this because a century’s worth of experiments suggests that people’s actual behavior is not driven by permanent traits that apply from one context to another. Students who are routinely dishonest at home are not routinely dishonest at school. People who are courageous at work can be cowardly at church. People who behave kindly on a sunny day may behave callously the next day when it is cloudy and they are feeling glum. Behavior does not exhibit what the psychologists call “cross-situational stability.”

    The psychologists thus tend to gravitate toward a different view of conduct. In this view, people don’t have one permanent thing called character.

  • What is Truth?

    It is difficult to define Truth as well as lie.
    Lies come in different forms,Falsehood,Suppressio veri, suggestiofalsi,misleading statements etal.
    In case of Truth, Truth is multi faceted and at times selfcontradictory, depending on the perceiver and
    conditions.
    Safest definition for Truth shall be ‘That which does not hurt others”
    It is pertinent to remember that one should speaktruthfully, but not
    all theTruth at all times.
    Lies of all hues are contra to facts and are used to protect one, his
    family etc.At such times better to keep quiet.

    Link
    Truth is what ‘is’.It is true at all points of time,past,present and
    future.It is different from facts, for facts are perceived by five
    senses and mind and they vary from individuals and even for an
    individual ,facts present themselves differently. at different points
    of time.For instance the sun appears to rise in the east is a
    fact,based on our eyes,but science explains that it appears to rise in
    the east.Hence, the fact as we have seen with our eyes is not true.But
    what about scientific explanation? Honest answer is, as Locke says,I
    Know not.
    Again what we see as truth is often incomplete as it has various
    versions, depending on the individual and circumstances.So, senses
    alone do not guarantee Truth.
    Then what is Truth? It is multifaceted.Truth is that which exists in
    itself and it does not need the existence of anything else to be
    understood and it does not need the conception of anything else in
    order to be conceived.
    Hence Truth is self evident and it is understood by us intutively. You
    can not explain what Truth is to one as you can not explain what
    yellow is to a man who is born blind.One has to experience Truth.
    Science is not truth but only facts, observed under certain
    conditions.It assumes axioms, especially two , namely law of
    Uniformity of Nature and Law of Causality.Logically you can say, at
    best Universe is following certain laws,say, Gravitation;there is no
    guarantee that it will be so tomorrow.
    Law Causality: Two events happen; we call one the cause of another,or
    one is the effect of another.One cause may produce more than one
    result and one result may have more than one cause.Granting that one
    event causes another, we assume that Law of Uniformity is operational,
    which we have seen is not true.Law of Causality and Uniformity are the
    modes through which we perceive and catalog events,nothing more.This
    is due to the fact that Human mind operates through two spectacles of
    Space and Time, without which we can perceive ,conceive or imagine
    anything.That which transcends space and time is the Reality and its
    attributes are Being,Pure Knowledge, and Bliss.That is our true
    nature.Rest of the things, like world as we see it, are Relatively
    true,just as a rainbow, which is true so long it lasts or like the
    reflection of the moon in water,The moon is one, yet we see many moons
    in water at different vessels.These are transitory.
    So where does it leave us in terms of lies?
    For practical purposes lie is one that harms others.Conversely Truth
    is that which does not hurt others.One must remember to speak
    truthfully, but need not speak all the Truth.