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Society, morality, and ethics
Morality In Society
The importance of building society on morals
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Recommended: Society, morality, and ethics
Judaism searches to find meaning in morality. “Nobody likes rules any more than they like stop lights, but without constraints, human relations would become as snarled as traffic jams” (Smith 188). Smith uses this simile to describe the human perspective of rules. It is in our nature to be social. We need interpersonal contact in order to keep our sanity. At the same time, it is quite ironic that an excess exposure to being around others socially can lead to chaos. Smith compares humans to cars driving on a road, life, and stop lights to moral laws. Without these stop lights to keep the driver and all the cars collectively, society will not be organized, and will no longer function properly. We need these stop lights, and without them, traffic
Sherbok, Dan. "Life Cycle Events." Judaism: history, belief, and practice. London: Routledge, 2003. 534-537. Print.
We as humans have an inborn sense of moral direction much like animals do. But it is this moral instinct that creates a symbiotic environment. From this one could construct additional rules that simply facilitate the world or are simply observations of the world without such rules being expressed. Or rather we have an inherent desire to live and thrive among one another but ethics as we know it are constructs of society when it was developed.
In Western society and culture, religion and morality have often intertwined and they have reflected their values onto each other. Today it is sometimes impossible to make a distinction between the two, since their influence has transcended generations. In modern Western culture, religion and society preach conformity. In order to be a “good” person, one must conform to the values imposed by the church1 and state.
The core ethical teachings of Judaism are the Commandments of the Torah, the Prophetic Vision and the Book of Proverbs. These ethical teachings are all ultimately derived from the Jewish Bible or Tanakh. The importance of these teachings are to provide Jewish adherents with informed moral choices. One of the most important ethical issues that a Jewish adherent may face is pollution, decisions must be made in favor of methods that involve less rather than greater destruction to the earth because according to Bal Toshkit in the Prophetic Vision, the destruction of God’s creation is prohibited. The commandments of the Torah provide Jewish adherents with ethical and moral teachings of Judaism.
The moral and ethical environment determines how we react in terms of justice, fairness, right, wrong, good, evil, tolerance, care, forgiveness and so fourth to the events that shape the world in which we live. Yet the forces that influence our views on such matters go mostly unnoticed (Burgh et al., 2006).
Morality binds people into groups. It gives us tribalism; it gives us genocide, war, and politics. But it also gives us heroism, altruism, and sainthood (“Jonathan Haidt Quotes.”). This quote sums the importance of morality perfectly. Even though morality may not be beneficial when the lives of the many out way the lives of the few or if it endangers your own well-being, we have an obligation to understand the morality of different people whether it’s socially, culturally, or religiously. When we fail to take into account these difference we breed conflict and eventually war.
The implementation of this new ethical paradigm allowed for Abrahamic societies to link their belief in God to common social values and responsibilities (Stark, 2001). The approach which Judaism, Christianity and Islam each take toward these common social values and responsibilities displays which values are held highest in each religion. Despite differences in each religion’s approach, common themes exist. The role of justice and forgiveness in each religion displays a common belief that man’s nature is to stray from God’s justice, but that man can ultimately connect with the divine through the contemplation and understanding of what is good and right.
According to philosophers, there are four types of law that guide morality and behavior for humans. Eternal, divine, natural and civil laws all contribute to the quality of life for mankind, but these laws often get confused with each other. This paper will examine two instances of a clash between the civil laws of government and divine laws of religious conviction.
The morals of society concept is exemplified by the Judeo-Christian religions. These religions base their moral principles on their respective religious texts that they believe to contain God’s will.
The spreading of belief allows the prophet to gain followers and eventually establish traditions which surround religion, whether it be holidays, ceremonies, or even the manner of death in some extreme cases. Based off the traditions established by these religions, societies soon formed and grew while strictly following the word of god, which, in modern days, has been collected into a single collective book. Three books exist between the religions. The Torah for Judaism, the Bible for Christianity, and the Qur’an for Islam. These books detail a certain creed or code through the use of anecdotes and parables, but are generally boiled down to a list which can vary in size from Christianity’s Ten Commandments to Judaism’s 613 laws, regardless of the rhetoric displayed in the enormous amount of pages written throughout the three texts. These laws are generally simplistic and followable without much thought, unless of course if one is a philosopher, in which case there is always room for questioning. However, Judaism in particular, having 613 separate laws, becomes very specific in their laws which range from what to eat when all the way up to what kind of punishment a man should receive if he has been caught committing a crime. Some of the harsher laws have been repealed or amended, but ascetic courts still exist in closed Jewish society, with some places still following Jewish law to a T (however this practice is rare outside of middle eastern communities where Judaism rules.) And since the topic of Judaism is fresh on the mind, it shall be the first detailed separately from the others.
Since the foundation of morality, people have always lived their life by code. A code that suggests what is both right, and wrong. This code has been passed down countless ways, from mother to son, father to daughter and brother to sister. Each differing, but still accounting for the right idea, and the wrong idea. They are the foundation of a persons position on a certain issue. Each of the world’s religions possess their own set of moral teachings. They are an important aspect of each religion because they define the different moral values upheld by them. Judaism and buddhism are two of the many religion’s which share generally similar moral teachings on a number of moral issues, including; abortion, homosexuality and life after death. Although they have subtle differences, the moral teachings of abortion, homosexuality and life after death in Judaism and Buddhism are fundamentally the same.
the laws of man and kept in check by society's own norms. The human struggle to
Religious texts have been one of the main sources for laws and social customs since the conception of organized religion. Each religious text provides its followers with a code of conduct they are expected to apply to themselves, their actions, and their institutions. This code of conduct applies to the individual, as well as to the government and society to within which the people exist, and ultimately defines what a "just society" is in the context of that religion. Using stories and proverbs this code of conduct, and thus "just society", is not only set, but also shown in examples. In The Bible, the essence of a "just society" is laid out within passages that serve as "the laws", including Deuteronomy, and the Psalms, and in the stories, such as the stories of Job, David, Samuel, and the Family of Adam. The actions and nature of God in these stories are meant to be an example of the values and personality favored by God. In these passages, a structure for a just society is presented, and the values and examples, which are to be referred to and followed in the creation of this "just society", are discussed. However, even within these passages, there are discrepancies between the structure of the ideal "just society" and its values, and the following of these examples by the stories presented in The Bible. One of the most noticeable of these is the difference between the presentation of the ideal "just society" and values that are supposed to be implemented by the people, and the actual justice and values presented in the stories. This is particularly pertaining to the stories of the rulers appointed by God, and the vengeful nature of God himself presented in these stories.
For example, if a person goes against an established social norm created by bible teaching such as adultery or stealing, they will experience a guilty conscience about doing something morally wrong. This is a powerful socializing and controlling influence over individuals within society. Parsons also claims religion is a source of meaning and purpose in people’s lives and can also provide a ‘mechanism of adjustment’ which is the means of emotional adjustment in times of various crises that occur in life that can help people return to a sense of normality and strengthen social bonds within society, as Malinowski also suggested. However, it can be argued that religion is not the most important factor in controlling and regulating people’s behaviour as things like the idea of punishment and law enforcement can be more influential especially in a time of growing secularisation. Despite the bible instilling a strong moral code for people to live by in society, many people within the population continue to commit things like adultery and working on the Sabbath day, both of which are part of the 10 commandments and considered a sin. Postmodernists also offer the argument that the society we live in today is multi-faith and so has a range of core values and no single moral code, this dismisses Parson’s theory as invalid in contemporary society. Also in opposition to Parson’s theory is the feminist argument that the regulation of people’s behaviour through religion is very unequal as women face oppression by the powerful male figures within religion. An example of this is how the women of Islam are forced to wear hijab’s in the name of religion. In opposition to this, it can be argued that hijab’s are worn to protect women from the ‘male-gaze’ in patriarchal societies so they are seen as more than just their
Therefore, it is through the principle beliefs of Judaism that Hassidic and Reform Jews arrive at divergent interpretations. The belief of a monotheistic faith, the establishment of the Covenant and the concept of divinely inspired moral law, results in different practices being implemented in the everyday life of an adherent. Despite not all Jewish adherents agreeing on the practices of the beliefs, the stimulus supports the connotation that Judaism is a religion that values and engages in the vast opinions promoted and the influences it has on an individual’s life.