Ethics and human conduct.

[Socrates the Greek]

Branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of human conduct. Philosophers commonly distinguish:

* descriptive ethics, the factual study of the ethical standards or principles of a group or tradition;
* normative ethics, the development of theories that systematically denominate right and wrong actions;
* applied ethics, the use of these theories to form judgments regarding practical cases; and
* meta-ethics, careful analysis of the meaning and justification of ethical claims.

 

[gd]

"morality is a delusion" ash from the film alien

ethics is a social learnt trait,

criminals and the underclass see no ethical problems in stealing, drugs, violence as they grow up in an environment which is self perpectuating to that end

rather they feel guilt when they get caught, go to jail, come out and reoffend.

 

[BitWhys]

I teach my kids not to run on the stairs. Does the fact the behavior is learned render the moral that fostered it any less valid?

 

[missile]

Of course one cannot have any ethics unless they are ingrained into them at an early age. That is one of the better results of going to masses at any organized religion.Just my opinion here, but following the 10 Commandments is good advice for everyone.

 

[Vereya]

You know, it might sound strange, but right now I sometimes try to overcome the ethical principles that I was taught when I was a child. a lot of people consider ethical rules to be a permanent standard of behavior. But they are not, and I don't think they ever will be. There are situations and situations. You cannot behave in an ehtical way to someone, who doesn't behave in that way to you. It might be not simply foolish, but also quite dangerous. And there is the issue of survival - unless there is absolutely no other way to solve a problem, and unethical action is perfectly justified when you are trying to survive and to protect those, who are dear to you.

 

[Socrates the Greek]

You know, it might sound strange, but right now I sometimes try to overcome the ethical principles that I was taught when I was a child. a lot of people consider ethical rules to be a permanent standard of behavior. But they are not, and I don't think they ever will be. There are situations and situations. You cannot behave in an ehtical way to someone, who doesn't behave in that way to you. It might be not simply foolish, but also quite dangerous. And there is the issue of survival - unless there is absolutely no other way to solve a problem, and unethical action is perfectly justified when you are trying to survive and to protect those, who are dear to you.

Vereya, great observation, ethics and human conduct often are as low as the snake’s bailey, and I suppose that is why we have nicknamed society the rat race. Sad and so true.

 

[Colpy]

I teach my kids not to run on the stairs. Does the fact the behavior is learned render the moral that fostered it any less valid?

Well said.

 

[darkbeaver]

RE: Ethics and human cond

I let my kids run on the steps and play with sharp tools, they
learned quickly not to do either, a little bloodletting is a good thing, some parents consider advise coupled with a good beating a sound method of teaching, I just let the situation do the teaching where possible. Of course there is a limit to this approach, they were not encouraged to drive or play with firearms much before they were five.
The rat race is a result of the pressure to consume, the pace of modern western life is and has been artificially induced to enhance corporate objectives.The hidden cost of our lifestyles is time or life itself.

Following the ten commandments is good, the problem is they are not religious axioms but social behavioral primarys developed and incorporated long before organized religion. If you examine religion and separate the primal codes of conduct and the traditional tribal ethical laws from the dogmatic mythical horseshit you discover that religion is not the wellspring of anything but division and intolerance and death.
There are 6738 christian cults, everyone of them claim exclusive hand delivered devine truth of the correct route to heaven. Everyone of them has written material every word of which was authored through devine guidance if not direct posession of the hand holding the pen and not one of of them has anything to do with any reality beyond the collection plate and the material well being of the adherants, my cat knows more about god then any two dozen of them. If you want to know the ethics of the period look to Lay and Skilling they'll show us what prevails today and what is the root cause of our
ongoing destruction. You will Find Lays and Skillings in every church and temple throughout the western world, it's just good bussiness.

Darkbeaver Disconected Saturday Rants Inc;

 

[china]

You know, it might sound strange, but right now I sometimes try to overcome the ethical principles that I was taught when I was a child. a lot of people consider ethical rules to be a permanent standard of behavior. But they are not, and I don't think they ever will be. There are situations and situations. You cannot behave in an ehtical way to someone, who doesn't behave in that way to you. It might be not simply foolish, but also quite dangerous. And there is the issue of survival - unless there is absolutely no other way to solve a problem, and unethical action is perfectly justified when you are trying to survive and to protect those, who are dear to you. __________--___

 

[FiveParadox]

Re: RE: Ethics and human conduct.

china[/i]]Dear Vereya ,I agree with you 100% ,it's good to see a sane coment ,once in a while .But .....this is a Canadian Forum so don't expect anybody to understand what you are saying.Patemu shto Kanada eto glupi narod.

And why would Canadians not understand what Vereya is saying, china?

 

[china]

They do,Five Paradox,a mistake.

 

[iARTthere4iam]

I don't really like the ten commandments.
1)I don't have any gods
2)I like making graven images. it's what i do for a living
3)I don't generally take any name in vain
4)I don't care about the sabbath
the rest of the commandments, i kinda like
I am an athiest, but I always try to follow the golden rule (do unto others.....).
I consider it to be fair and considerate. I haven't had any complaints yet.

 

[Vereya]

The golden rule? Do unto others what they do unto you?

 

[Dexter Sinister]

The golden rule? Do unto others what they do unto you?

Close. Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. In other words, treat people as you want to be treated. There also seems to be another version around in today's self-indulgent society: do unto others before they do it unto you.

I don't like the Ten Commandments much either. The first four are the prohibition against worship of any deity but God, the prohibition of idolatry, prohibition of using the name of God for vain purposes, and the requirement to observe the Sabbath. They're strictly religious, and of no particular significance in any modern secular state. The other six--honouring your parents, prohibiting murder, adultery, stealing, and lying, and not coveting all the cool stuff your neighbour has*--are just common sense rules necessary in a well-ordered society. You'll find some version of them in any civilization, including many that have never seen the Ten Commandments. The only real difference is that the Bible provides both a humanitarian and a religious justification for them, but they're neither unique nor original as stated in the Old Testament.

It also seems worth noting that philosophy generally tries to evaluate human conduct without reference to deities, except for the explicitly religious philosophers like Saint Augustine.



*including his wife, and note that the Biblical neighbour is a man, his wife is part of his property in a list that includes livestock, which tells you what the Old Testament writers thought of women: on a par with oxen and donkeys.

 

[iARTthere4iam]

That is an important distinction regarding the golden rule. If you are mistreated you should still try to do unto them what you would WANT them to do unto you.

 

[Vereya]

Re: RE: Ethics and human conduct.

That is an important distinction regarding the golden rule. If you are mistreated you should still try to do unto them what you would WANT them to do unto you.

That the christian golden rule. The rule of our God Perun, who is very similar to the Scandinavian Odin, is do unto others what they do unto you. Being nice to a person, who treats you like dirt, doesn't make any sense. Moreover, it is very dangerous, as it gives that person a chance to mistreat you once again. Would you want that? Will ethical reason make you let someone walk over you once again?

To China - pochemu ti dumaesh, chto v Kanade glupy narod? Mne interesno tvoe mnenie.

 

[iARTthere4iam]

If someone is mistreating you avoid them. If someone is jerk being a jerk back doesn't make things better. Just go away and have only contact with those people who are civil. Or punch them in the face.

 

[Vereya]

Re: RE: Ethics and human conduct.

If someone is mistreating you avoid them. If someone is jerk being a jerk back doesn't make things better. Just go away and have only contact with those people who are civil. Or punch them in the face.

I may probably be wrong, but I believe, that just walking away from people who are mistreating you, or who are behaving like jerks towards you, is an indirect encouragement for these people to behave in the same way towards others. Jerks are cowardly people, as a rule. Once you rebuff them, they will keep quiet. If you just walk away, there is no stopping them.
Besides, you might find yourself in a situation when you cannot walk away from a person, who is mistreating you. What would you do then? Just put up with everything?
And what about self-respect? I don't believe that you will respect yourself more if you just keep quiet. I don't suggest to everyone to be aggressive and rude, I am not that. What I mean is that when you do not "hit back", so to say, to expose yourself to more attacks from that person, and moreover, you expose yourself to unpleasant treatment from other people, who might behave unpleasantly as well, seeing that you do not do anything to prevent this kind of thing from happening. What would you say?