Exploring Ethics: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Concepts

Between Good and Evil: Exploring Human Ethics

In animal life, the perpetuation of the species is ensured through ingenious mechanisms. However, humans yearn for something more: the perpetuation and spread of the unique. As Saint Augustine said, man represents a new beginning, a model defined by singularities. Hegel posited that thinking about life is the task, and valuing actions is the way to value life. Can we say there is a way of life?

We call 'art' the skillful practice in a particular field. Its general principles can be learned, but its highest levels of excellence lack precise rules and can only be admired in the exercise of outstanding individuals. Once learned, art is not yet fully mastered. The art of living, if we accept it, may be partial. Two closely linked parts can be identified:

• The first: The maintenance, enjoyment, and repair of our body, which could be called hygiene.
• The second part: Dealing with the demands and commitments entailed in recognizing the humanity of our fellows, so they in turn confirm our own. This is called ethics.

Like any art, the art of living is to discern between different ways of acting and to value them. Ethics delves into axiology (what is good, what is wrong, the best and worst, etc.) and deontology (what should be done in each case and how). Recognized values and the roles we play (the first and most basic: language) give us our unique and unrepeatable identity. In symbolic virtuality, each individual remains distinct. We all exist within the dimension of ethical values, subject to judgment. Courage is valuable but can be brutal; justice is beautiful but can become cruel; love is what we all want, yet sometimes it destroys us or compels us to destroy.

For other living beings, there is proper or improper, friendly or harmful. But among humans, we speak of good and evil, terms referring to conscious choices. In the search for good, it's not enough to say we can make mistakes; we must remain open to the effective possibility of evil, a dark option. Choosing good affirms and reinforces who we are; opting for evil results in denial and self-diminishment. Montaigne said that there is nothing so beautiful and legitimate as being good and true to oneself, and that belittling our being, becoming enemies of ourselves, is our wildest disease, like Shakespeare's Richard III.

Evil does not hate this or that uniqueness; it hates singularity itself. It hates freedom, equality, fraternity, sharing. And that hatred is freedom itself. Evil is the hatred of existence as such, existing as the most proper possibility of rejecting ethics. The question is whether such a rejection of human existence is truly possible. From Socrates onward, many teachers say no, surprised by our inability to rationally want evil.

Stages of Personality

This is the most obscure and hidden part of our personality, often revealed through dreams. It can be described as chaos. The id knows no right or wrong; its fundamental principle is pleasure. It is the untamed, animal part of man, containing instincts and repressed desires.

Ego: This part is amended by the outside world, known through perception. It's the diplomat of the personality, consciously acting to accommodate impulses. For Freud, the ego is young and weak, new and lacking the power of the impulses it tries to manage. The ego learns to wait but often falters, involving the superego.

Superego: This is the internal judge, starting in childhood. It is the moral conscience, possessing psychic power independent of the ego. The superego represents the highest aspirations of human personality.

Understanding Ethics

Ethics is the part of philosophy devoted to reflecting on morality. It's a type of knowledge that attempts to build rationally, deploying concepts and arguments to understand the moral dimension of the human person without reducing it to psychological, sociological, or economic components. Ethics, or moral philosophy, accounts for moral phenomena. The term is often used synonymously with morality (a set of principles, norms, and values governing lives). The word 'ethics' comes from the Greek 'ethos,' originally meaning 'dwelling' but later evolving to mean 'character,' acquired through moral life. Ethics and morality etymologically converge, referring to the mode of being or character acquired through good habits.

Ethics is Not Neutral

Ethics and moral philosophy are not identified with any single moral code but are obliged to denounce and reaffirm some. While no moral code can be recommended as preferable given the complexity of moral phenomena and the plurality of rational models and philosophical approaches, ethics doesn't fail in guiding actions.

Role of Ethics

1) Clarify what morality is and its specific risks. 2) Establish the basis of morality, finding reasons for humans to live morally. 3) Apply morality to various fields of social life.

Conscience and Guilt

Consciousness of guilt, according to Freud, arises when an individual is judged guilty in their actions. The individual is torn between real love and the satisfaction of a drive; satisfying one implies giving up the other. Guilt is the psychic pain imposed for betraying the other and jeopardizing love. Initially, guilt, love, and drives are closely related. Later, guilt results from tension between the ego and superego. Conflict arises from satisfying drives versus the love of the superego. To gain the superego's approval, the ego must resign and make a pact, enjoying privileges in exchange for renouncing drives. If the individual refuses, they become a debtor and treaty violator, incurring the superego's anger and guilt. The feeling of being perpetually indebted to the father figure stems from never fully renouncing forbidden desires. Freud argues that individuals must pay for their right to love and enjoyment through a law demanding the renunciation of drives. Violating this law enacts moral guilt and pain. Nietzsche said that suffering the pain of guilt compensates creditors, and this cruelty is humanity's great happiness, the supreme good everyone seeks in the name of justice. Freud's proposal has its place.

Aristotle's Ethics and Bioethics

Book I: Happiness

Happiness is chosen for itself and never for anything else, while honor, pleasure, intelligence, and virtues are desired for themselves but also for the sake of happiness. Happiness is self-sufficient and includes everything desirable in life. It makes us independent; having everything needed for happiness is perfection and the end of our actions. The happy person lives well and acts well. Happiness is an activity of the soul according to virtue. Activities performed according to virtue play a role in happiness. Not being praised implies it is superior to what is praiseworthy. As happiness is the greatest good, it should not be praised but honored. Human virtue is of the soul. Aristotle identifies three parts of the soul: vegetative, sensitive, and rational. The latter two relate to the essence of human good: the rational and the sensitive, which obeys the rational.

Book II: Nature of Virtue and Bioethics

Ethical virtue is a way of being in action. There are distinctions between ethical virtue (acquired by habit) and dianoetic virtue (acquired by teaching). Ethical virtue is learned and therefore not natural; the natural is born with potential and subsequent action. Good is not acquired by accumulating actions but through the role of education. Excess or deficiency is negative, like too much or too little food. We must always seek the proper measure in every action (neither too much nor too little). Pleasure and pain are common feelings that can lead to virtue or vice. A good education makes the soul not swayed by pains or seduced by pleasures. To become good, one must do good deeds consciously and willingly. A good teacher can help one learn to do good. Passions, faculties, and modes of being occur in the soul. Passion accompanies pleasure or pain. Faculties enable us to feel passion. Both can be good or bad. Modes of being classify our actions as good or bad (virtue). Men are moved by passions and ready for virtues or vices. Habits are selective. Virtue is in the mean between excess and deficiency and is thus praised. Virtue is not a precise term but a perfection, exemplified by various terms like fear and boldness, courage. The virtuous option is the mean, opposed by two extremes (excess and default), which are vices. Moving away from pleasure (which leads to virtue), teaching children to avoid known evils and seek known goods (based on experiences leading to good), and understanding the difficult search for good are all important.