MORAL PONDERABLES

6 QUESTIONS WORTH A SECOND LOOK..........

1. What is the relationship between morality, ethics, conscience and humanity?

As rough models, here are my takes on each term:

• Morality – Often confused with even more subjective concepts called "fairness" and "rightness".  Socrates nailed these perceptions when he said, "A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." I see Morality as a latent hierarchy of values, of base principles that "I" has decided are important to me. They shape my better self and how "I" see situations and the way "I" reacts to other people. When I violate them, I violate my own sense of self-worth.
  
  
• Ethics – A charter of self-generated “rules” that "I" uses to guide me in expressing my Morality, and deciding who and how "I" wants to be in particular situations.
  
  
• Conscience – A state of feeling we entertain about the appropriateness of a particular stance. This feeling of Conscience is affected by our existing concepts of “right” and “wrong”. Conscience is our internal recognition of right and wrong as we regard our own or someone else's actions and motives. This state of being we call Conscience is a manufactured faculty which decides upon the moral quality of someone's actions and motives, enjoining one to conform with the “moral law” as it is expressed by our personal ethics. Conscience, as distinct from "consciousness", is something that also emerges as we grow through childhood from core concepts, beliefs, values, opinions largely adopted from the family and culture into which we were born. Life experiences will usually confirm our programmed operating system, of which Conscience is a part, until a later crisis or breakdown forces us to re-evaluate what we have always assumed to be “just-so”.
  
  
• Humanity – Aside from the obvious way of labeling humankind in general, I regard "humanity" as a collective nounencompassing the synthesised nature of all humans-being- human, including the whole palette of everyone's morality, ethics and the exercising of individual conscience. Humanity is a characteristic of the conditions into which we emerge from wherever we came from. Growing and maturing is the process where we find a place in the mix and ways to discover how to share, work and play as fully as possible with our fellow humans-being. In its fullest flower, humanity blossoms into humane kindness and benevolence.

Like all definitions, these are limited, limiting and mine. I offer them here only to get you started on your own inward journey, and as an indication of the shades of differing meaning I see attaching to each. It is important that you neither accept nor reject my take on them at face value. Instead I recommend that, having read thus far, you drop each word into your own experience and decide for yourself what morality, ethics, conscience and humanity individually “mean” to you, and become aware of how you came to acquire your conclusions. 

Then decide for yourself how you relate each to the other.

2. Do these terms pertain exclusively to the individual, or can they apply to groupings of peoples? If so, how?

3. What weight do you give the following statements?

“In all conscience, Australia should give aid to the victims of natural disasters”

“Australia has a moral duty to help the ebola victims.”

“Australia has an ethical obligation to accept boat people seeking refuge”

“In simple humanity, Australia has an obligation to protect all people (eg. Afghanis, Timorese) from tyrants and bullies (eg. the Taliban, ISIL, the USA, Indonesia and Australia)”

4. Can a nation made up of 23 million people with individual consciences have a collective conscience or a single collective moral code, or a single collective view of ethical behaviour or an agreed view on what constitutes “humanitarian” assistance? Does that last term extend to dropping food and water to succour people in strife? Does it extend to parachuting arms and ammunition to troops to fight their own battles? If not, what to you is the difference?

5. Is there a distinct dividing line, if any at all, between what is “Australian” and what is characterised as “un-Australian”. Who qualifies for "Team Australia" and who does not? Who gets to make those distinctions? On what authority?

6. When we elect a representative to the local council/state or federal governments do we expect him/her to behave and make decisions for us based on

- His/her personal morality/conscience?

- His/her interpretation of the collective conscience/morality of the community/electorate, if such a thing exists?

- or perhaps the morality of the majority?

- or the “national interest” ?

Who gets to arbitrate on what is in the “national interest” and what is not?

If the proclaimed “group interest” is clearly very different from someone's personal morality, what choice should the individual make?

What does all this have, if anything, with who we truly are?

Over to you........

I don't think you should put these questions aside for too long. Choices and decisions that define you in the eyes of others are being made right now in your name. You and I are just as responsible for those as the people we allow to make them. And the consequences of those pronouncements and actions won't differentiate between those who voted for, those against, or those who abstained. The iceberg sank the WHOLE "Titanic", did you hear? (It was in all the newspapers)!

What you do next defines you, and your personal possibilities.

It's that important, to you and those close to you.