1st lecture

Value, Ethics and Philosophy

The study of value and ethics fall under the jurisdiction of philosophy. Broadly
speaking, philosophy studies and examines everything in the light of reason and
logic.
This means that philosophy never takes anything or trust or blind faith but
judges the meaning and value of each and every concept before accepting or
rejecting it.
The method of philosophy is thus rational and critical. And it is with this
searching method that the great philosophers have tried to find out the meaning and
value of the universe in general and human life in particular.
Axiology
The branch of philosophy that deals with values is called axiology. Logic, ethics
and aesthetics are the three main branches of axiology.
a. Logic deals with the problems of truth.
b. Ethics deals with the problem of goodness.
c. Aesthetics is concerned with the question of beauty.
The nature and goal of ethics
The term ethics has been derived from ethos which means customs. Accordingly,
ethics studies and examines human customs, habits, actions and character. It also
judges human duties and responsibilities. It raises questions and tries to find
reasonable answers to the questions of what is right or wrong, good or bad in
human conduct, social customs, prevailing laws and other practices. In other
words, ethics tries to find out the principles of a dignified human life.
Ethics is also called moral philosophy which studies the questions of what is
right and wrong in human conduct. For example, are we morally oblied to tell the
truth or may we tell lies something?
Voluntary actions:

however, we must remember that ethics does not study all kinds of human actions.
It studies only voluntary actions.
Volantary actions are those we can perform according to our will. They are
those that we may do if we like or may not do if we so like. For example, we may
help or harm a person according to our will. Again, we may tell a lie if we like or
we may tell the truth even in the face of great danger. These are examples of
voluntary actions which come under the jurisdiction of ethical studies.
In contrast, blood pressure, illness or accidents of any kind are nonvoluntary actions over which we do not studied by ethics or moral philosophy.
Normally ethics studies individual actions or character. But now a days,
ethics also studies the special character or attitude of a particular group. For
example, the American ethos or the business ethos. In other words, ethics is
interested in the study of social customs or rules that govern human behavior,
especially the rules concerning good and evil.
Man is a rational human being. As such everyone should try for the
maximum good of the society. Ethics calls an action good when it helps social well
being as well as individual good or welfare. Ethics teaches us to seek our own
good in a manner that others (our fellow beings) are not disturbed. This means that
to be moral is to respect the man in me and others as well.
When we live in a society many selfishes have to be controlled for the sake
of common good. For example, the night guard at the gate of an office must guard
the building for the common good by sacrificing his desire to sleep.
As rational human beings we have to judge our individual actions and social
customs in the light of reason and conscience. The moral man is always guided by
a sense of duty or obligation. He does those things which are considerd right and
avoid those which are considerd wrong.
Religion and ethics
Religion is a belief in a supernatural authority (GOD) who is the creator or
controller of the universe. Human beings try to please His through prayer.

Historically there has been a close reletion between morality and religion.
Morality developed graduallyfrom religious customs and belief. Thus morality
takes a high place among religious duties. Thus it is said that the more religious an
individual or society is the more moral that individual or society will be.
However, there are at the same time some differences between religion and
morality. First, religion is based on a belief in GOD and revelation, but ethics relies
on human reason. Secondly, ethics does not rest on feelings ( as does religion), but
on the careful examination of the society around us. For example, it may be
unpleasant to fine an emplyee, but ethics may demand just this.
However, there is no conflict between ethics and religion. Both are enged in
the pursuit of human welfare.