Why Ethics?

The subject of ethics has been whirling around in my head recently. Apparently, it’s been whirling around in the heads and on the blogs of others as well.

For most of us, the application of ethics comes naturally, almost unconsciously. We don’t need to reason through a moral framework to decide not to kill our grocer and steal his money. Nor do we need to figure out how we feel when we hear that someone was raped in the park last night. We understand these things for what they are: abominable acts carried out by broken humans.

Aside from the occasional poaching of office supplies, lying to avoid family obligations, or turning away while the dog does its business in a state park, most of us lead relative ethical lives by any standard. Those of us who don’t probably aren’t interested in ethics anyway.

So why is ethics important?

Human beings want to do the “right thing.” It’s very difficult for someone to commit an act they know is wrong, and the degree of difficulty increases proportionally to their perception of its “wrongness.” Only sociopaths are free from this constraint, which is what makes them such unpleasant company.

Anyone who wants you to participate in something would benefit greatly by casting it as the “right thing” (I’m going to start to use “good” interchangeably with “the right thing” to save typing—I’m open to arguments that they aren’t synonymous in the way I use them).

For this reason, religion and government are two of the institutions most interested in managing the conversation about ethics. If tithing is good, religious people will do it. If fighting terrorism is the right thing to do, 70% of Americans will support the invasion of multiple countries.

I believe that ethics is currently a tool of power—a way that the strong justify the use of violence against the weak. A claim could probably be made that it always has been such. The evidence for this claim abounds, as goodness and right have been used since words have been written to lead populations to stupendous acts of barbarism against other populations.

Thus I see ethics as one of the areas in which it is critical that we bring clarity. That is the purpose of this blog—that and to pass the time while my wife is out having her nails done.