Friedrich Nietzsche, a German Philosopher from the 19th century once said, “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”. Here, Nietzsche is expressing the importance of recognizing the variety of perspectives on ethical matters. Every human, from the beginning of childhood, is faced with situations where they must do the “right” thing. Over the years, we have formed opinions on the “right” way to live, which defines our behavior and our values in society. However, to lead a decent human life in coexistence with others, it is important to expand our knowledge of ethics beyond our own morality. Furthermore, without ethics, we would have no conscience, no morals, nothing to make
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For example, a person who only believes in normative ethics would use the word “killing” to describe all acts that result in death (ranging from ordering 2000 men to fight in a war; all the way to murdering someone with a knife). However, someone who uses applied ethics, would deny the existence of objective words that can be categorized into right or wrong since everything depends on the situation. These two ways of expressing morality can be named as realism and relativism. Realism, the normative view on ethical language, states that there are “building blocks” that are not liable to variation. Therefore, if something is said to be wrong, it is because it is truly wrong, not because it has been labeled that way by a specific person. However, these building blocks can be shaky for populations who do not have a stable leader that decides what is “right” or “wrong”. For example, in Somalia, the people are more accurately lead by a number of competing clans than by an actual government. Therefore, a more integral view on language is Relativism. This theory forces us to take responsibility for our own words: if a person says something is wrong, it is based on that person’s judgement, not on a universal truth. This concept of relativism has been used by famous authors, including Shakespeare in his play Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Relativism belongs …show more content…
Its history can start as early as the sixth century BC with Confucius, a Chinese philosopher who recommended to "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." Although this was said more than 25 centuries ago, Confucius’s theories of human behavior still apply today and are still taught to children from the youngest age. However it seems that people have lost track of the importance of this philosophy. How can we claim to treat others the way we would like to be treated when 80% of modern companies exploit weaker populations for their own benefit? Therefore the influence of ethics has obviously diminished. This can be explained by the receding influence of religion in our society. In the early centuries, ethics was taught through religion and God was omnipresent, he judged all of our decisions. Men were therefore more likely to follow the guidelines of the Bible to secure their place in heaven. Some even believed that men were illuminated by God in three ways and therefore influences our way of thinking. This theory of illumination was created by Bonaventure, an Italian Philosopher from the 13th century. However it is clear that his philosophy has aged over time, with the development of sciences. In fact, recent research shows that brain studies will reveal what is truly “right “ or “wrong” for humans. This contradicts the theory that God directs what we think is right or wrong: we decide for ourselves.
For example, a person who only believes in normative ethics would use the word “killing” to describe all acts that result in death (ranging from ordering 2000 men to fight in a war; all the way to murdering someone with a knife). However, someone who uses applied ethics, would deny the existence of objective words that can be categorized into right or wrong since everything depends on the situation. These two ways of expressing morality can be named as realism and relativism. Realism, the normative view on ethical language, states that there are “building blocks” that are not liable to variation. Therefore, if something is said to be wrong, it is because it is truly wrong, not because it has been labeled that way by a specific person. However, these building blocks can be shaky for populations who do not have a stable leader that decides what is “right” or “wrong”. For example, in Somalia, the people are more accurately lead by a number of competing clans than by an actual government. Therefore, a more integral view on language is Relativism. This theory forces us to take responsibility for our own words: if a person says something is wrong, it is based on that person’s judgement, not on a universal truth. This concept of relativism has been used by famous authors, including Shakespeare in his play Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Relativism belongs …show more content…
Its history can start as early as the sixth century BC with Confucius, a Chinese philosopher who recommended to "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." Although this was said more than 25 centuries ago, Confucius’s theories of human behavior still apply today and are still taught to children from the youngest age. However it seems that people have lost track of the importance of this philosophy. How can we claim to treat others the way we would like to be treated when 80% of modern companies exploit weaker populations for their own benefit? Therefore the influence of ethics has obviously diminished. This can be explained by the receding influence of religion in our society. In the early centuries, ethics was taught through religion and God was omnipresent, he judged all of our decisions. Men were therefore more likely to follow the guidelines of the Bible to secure their place in heaven. Some even believed that men were illuminated by God in three ways and therefore influences our way of thinking. This theory of illumination was created by Bonaventure, an Italian Philosopher from the 13th century. However it is clear that his philosophy has aged over time, with the development of sciences. In fact, recent research shows that brain studies will reveal what is truly “right “ or “wrong” for humans. This contradicts the theory that God directs what we think is right or wrong: we decide for ourselves.