Ethics and human interface

Ethics in general can be described as those beliefs or standards that incline one to act or choose in one way rather than another.

Acts and choices that one bases on ethical values serve social and human well being. Human well-being talks about different aspects of one’s lives such as happiness, health, freedom, autonomy etc. Ethical choices promote social and human well-being by being impartial, i.e., no one person’s well-being is regarded as more worthy than any other’s. This can be in the case of business - not keeping profit as the sole objective, technology-making use of innovations and advancements that are constructive and non-threatening to humanity etc. Instead of being hedonist and materialistic, we care about the consequences of our actions on the lives of others. By living a virtuous life, not only does a person live a morally satisfactory life but also ensures that other people are not adversely impacted by his/her actions. Therefore, ethics have an instrumental role in the social and human well-being by contributing to social harmony.

In India, the word politics over time has come to be associated with corruption, political manipulation, opportunism, nepotism, along with weak moral integrity and character of political leaders. The flexing of muscle and money power in politics has made young people with ethical conduct wary of joining politics these days because

• They fear that their ethical power cannot compete with the money and muscle power of modern day politician as they cannot be as ruthless as unethical politician in the pursuance of power.
• They are also worried as their clean reputation may be spoiled in the dirty game of politics.

In such a scenario, it has become pertinent to motivate youngsters towards politics, through following ways:

• Instilling in them a sense of duty and responsibility towards the country and people and by virtue of which, in politics. They can’t change it for better by not entering the system itself.
• Encourage participation in political debates and school and university elections to raise political awareness and check the indifference creeping in the youth towards politics.
• Perception management by bringing upright leaders to limelight in public discourse, highlighting their work and showcasing the cases of punishment of corrupt leaders,
• Persuasion and incentives by having a platform dedicated to youth in political parties where they can share their ideas, voice their grievances, experiment with politics, like youth wings, so that they feel their part in political matters.
• The government and political parties should work together to define and implement career pathways in politics for qualified people, and provide career guidance to young people who want to enter politics in the future.

(a) Laws are rules of conduct that government creates and requires people to obey. Whereas ethics are guidelines for proper behavior that come from sources other than the government, like personal morals, values or code of conduct established by professional organizations etc. Both law and ethics shape our behavior but ethics often shapes our behavior before laws do.

(b) While both law and ethics shape human conduct, each follows a different approach in doing so. Whereas as laws are more objective, ethics are subjective. Legal standards are mostly negative ie., they usually prescribe not to do something. Ethics on the other hand are more positive and tell what is the right thing to do. For example— Law forbids to harm other people, ethics tell us to help other people.

A good life is the realization of all the values - material, social, psychological, aesthetical, moral, ethical and human. The classical Indian tradition follows the realization of the four purusharthas (pillars) – Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha (religion, wealth, sensual pleasures, salvation).

The crisis of ethical values in modern life can be traced to the narrow perception in terms of material values i.e., Artha and Kama (wealth and sensuous pleasure) alone. The sole aim of all life has become attainment of personal success - defined in terms as acquisition of money, power and prestige. Its guiding slogan is, ‘higher the quantity of consumption, better the quality of life’. 

Therefore, the modern value crisis is mainly due to the narrow perception of a good life which overplays of the importance of material values of life and downplays other life values like the moral and ethical. Life values like happiness, peace, contentment, etc which give meaning, worth and fullness to human existence are seen as roadblocks and unnecessary diversions from the high road to material success.

Since a narrow way of good life cannot sustain in the long-run, there is need for the society in general to focus more on the broader aspects of values to lead a better quality life.