Personal Ethical System

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Personal ethical system

We human beings live in a society. The society or the social world we live in is based on human cooperation. In other words, the individuals in a society do not live in an isolated self-centered world. The human interactive system presupposes ethical and moral standpoint from which we operate. My personal ethical system is based on “service before self” and “love your neighbors as yourself”.

The question that I wish to address in context of these two principles of my personal ethical system is whether my ethical system is capable of being universally applied and followed. Can we think of a possible situation when this system will break down so that it becomes indefensible? In other words, for an ethical system to be universal, it must be applicable and be consistent. It should be able to guide me under all circumstances and provide a reference for my actions.

There are two elements in my system that needs to be understood. One is “love” and the other is “self”. Men instinctually know what “love” and “self” mean. While all of us love ourselves and also others, yet we find strife and hatred in the world. The reason is a man loves himself first before others. My ethical system challenges an individual to love others first before himself. When this is done and achieved as indeed it has been achieved by many men and women, there occurs a paradigm shift in the system of human interaction that leads to a better understanding among human beings.

The ethical system that I propose has the goal of what is ultimately good for human beings. The ultimate good of human beings lie in going beyond their individual needs because instinctually animals strive to fulfill their individual bio-organic ne...

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...th intense compassion and love for the enemy and wait for the enemy to shoot him down. My contention is that war is impossible when every one follows the principle of “Love they neighbor…” and “service before self”. However, my ethical system does not propagate relinquishing one’s duty. It is possible to imagine a soldier fighting a war as a part of his duty, slaying his enemies even as he continues to love them. This was what Krishna preached in Bhagwadgita to his disciple Arjuna who was horrified at the sight of his kinsmen fighting on the enemy’s side.

Works Cited

Kant, Immanuel. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785

Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism, 1863

Singer, Peter (Ed) A Companion to Ethics, Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, Blackwell Publishing, 1993

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