‽istis ponders ethics (weekending June 18th
2022)
To paraphrase shamelessly (1): ‘to lose one ethics advisor, may
be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like…’ (2) and ‽istis wonders
whether ‘carelessness’ is quite the right word‽
In
several past blogs, directly and indirectly, ‽istis has pondered and reclaimed
issues relating to integrity, values and what may or may not be considered a
resigning matter.
Perhaps
there’s a ‘lost in translation’ going on…
The actual or potential breaking of the ‘ministerial code’ seems for
some to be not so much a resigning matter but a re-signing matter with the PM and with whoever is the daily unfortunate
volunteering minister seeming to claim that it is their duty not to be knocked
off course by things that they tell us don’t really concern the general public
(those outside the ‘Westminster bubble’). Instead, probably whilst dodging yet
again a repeated direct question, there seems to be a re-sign up to the (so-called)
‘people’s priorities’ - an inclusive phrase that ignores we the people who never had confidence; who would not want
the current incumbent as friend, neighbour, colleague, current or former or
future partner or spouse, or relative, or driver home after a party (especially during a pandemic lockdown); who so often exclaim towards the
television, radio, computer or ‘phone: ‘not in my name’!
So,
uncomplimentary rant over, ‽istis ponders ‘ethics’ and finds some pithy
quotations (3), the relevance of which you might decide for yourself:
●
‘A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.’
Albert Camus
●
‘Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and
politics to mere technique.’ James Macgregor Burns
●
‘The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of
solidarity with other human beings.’ Albert Schweitzer
●
‘Education without values,
as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.’ C.S. Lewis
● 'Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and
a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows
better.” Mark Twain, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
● ‘Ours is a world of nuclear giants and
ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about
killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and
rejected the Sermon on the Mount.’ Omar N. Bradley
● ‘My biggest problem with modernity may
lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal.’ Nassim Nicholas
Taleb.
● ‘It is impossible, or not easy, to alter
by argument what has long been absorbed by habit.’ Aristotle
●
‘Ethics are my veiled
mistress; I love them, but know not what they are.’ Robert Louis
Stevenson.
● ‘The first and most important field of
philosophy is the application of principles such as “Do not lie.” Next come the
proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates
the proofs, by asking, for example, “How does this prove it? What exactly is a
proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is
falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the
second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should
occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are
preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the
first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have
no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.’ Epictetus, The
Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness.
● ‘Ethical actions can often entail
short-term pain, but will always result in long-term gains. By contrast,
unethical actions frequently have short-term gains, which make them so
attractive. But I guarantee that unethical actions will always result in some
form of long-term pain and ultimate collapse, frequently in unexpected ways.’ Kashonia
Carnegie.
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme
and past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
3)
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/ethics-quotes & https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/ethics
4)
For
further pondering another week…‽
