The Ethical Problem

The Ethical Problem

The ethical problem, from my personal observation, is that all human beings are different; implying a different culture, strangely obscure values, familial and other institutional ties that defy logic, and educational experience – formal and informal – that put reason, historical understanding, and conceptual imagination at risk. The idea of a universal morality is more ideal than reality. It’s a wonderful notion that has community potential, but is defeated as soon as we open the door to inner assumptions, biases, and understanding.

Philosophers, for so long, have had it all wrong. The question or problem isn’t moral understanding and justification. On the contrary, the problem is the differences in the knowledge, attitude, and commitments of people—any people. We are all so different, have herd tendencies, and wilt in the face of power. So, how do we motivate and get people to believe, and how do we engender in them the moral courage to act on their beliefs? This is not a philosophical question at all—it’s practical and sociological, perhaps psycho-social.

What are our choices? Where do we turn? Does a universal morality have a chance or is relativity the reality we agree to live with? Was Plato right? Will it take a benevolent dictator to hold the pieces of this world together or will greed and injustice—me first, screw you—win out? Some of us want a benevolent dictator—a Pope to outline our responsibilities and hang on it the reward of heaven or hell. FDR performed that role for Americans in the 1930s and 1940s; Reagan came close, but fell short of being canonized. It’s what keeps Billy Graham a hot item. But just look at the differences in those four men! If we put them in a room together, could they work out a universal morality that would satisfy not only us, but them as well? I doubt it.

Do we continue to rely on education and think that putting Bible stories in the schools will solve our problems? We had them when I was a kid and nothing much has changed. Do we continue to rely on education and half-way educate our teachers—we give them method and a little content, but no in-depth studies in the humanities, foreign languages, and sciences (physical and social). We tell them “teach to the test, because what gets tested is the most important facts we teach.” Have we ruined a generation of teachers with this limited view of education? What have we done to our students? If education isn’t doing the job, it’s not because religion has been removed from the schools; its because “education” has been removed, in the truest sense.

Perhaps I have more questions than answers, and I do. This world is confusing because we refuse to give up our prejudices and seek common answers to universal problems. I think I’m always right, don’t you? That’s the attitude I hear and read about most of the time. Maybe “courage” is the one virtue that is missing from our leaders. I don’t mean the kind of courage president’s muster up to send young men and women into battle or that school administrators call upon when they order teachers to focus on the narrow windows of present-day testing and school measuring. I’m talking about the courage to teach the total curriculum in the face of administrative threats. I’m talking about the political courage to give up looking at polls and saying what’s expedient to doing what’s morally right and practically sane.

When I go to church and see an American flag sitting along side of the Christian flag, I wonder about my self- identity as a human being and as a religious human being. If I wrap myself in the flag, I admit my secularity and secular values. If I turn to the Christian flag and there posit my loyalty, can I be secure in my faith and its truths? If so, can I be sure that my version of faith is guiding the American enterprise? Eighty-two percent of Americans say that believe in God, but those who dominate America – media America, political America, and capitalism and greed America paint a different picture. I really don’t know where to turn and have few answers. We’ve been pretty good at identifying some of the problems, but can’t agree on the answers. Can we stop identifying ourselves as liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, American or foreigner long enough to recognize our common humanity? I doubt that we can but I do hold out hope!