The Moral And Ethical Base Of The Modern Society - Book Report/Review Example

The Moral And Ethical Base Of The Modern Society (1)Purpose(s). Jonathan Glover, is true to his profession as for the contents of this book. Something in detail is discussed about the scope and limits of human ethical behavior. He is a philosopher and professor of ethics on the faculty of King's College, London. Any book invariably tells something about the mind and beliefs of the author, howsoever intelligently one may try to avoid personal reflections. His analysis are philosophical and ethical. The main purpose of the book is to scrutinize the ethical issues shrouded in historical and political realities. 2) Premise(s) The author is deeply worried about the disposition of the leaders, those who were in charge of governing the destiny of human beings, that are part of history now. Ethics and morality were important then, as they are important now. But the quality of human beings remained the same,may be it has gone from bad to worse. On the recent moral history of humanity the author makes highly relevant observations in the first few pages of the book, that serve as the clinchers for the entire content of the book. They observe, “ In Europe at the start of the twentieth century most people accepted the authority of morality. They thought there was a moral law, which was self-evidently to be obeyed. Emmanuel Kant had written of the two things which fill the mind with admiration and awe, 'the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me'. In Cambridge in 1985, a century after Kant, Lord Acton still had no doubts: 'Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.”(p.1) (3) Method of argumentation. Glover's method of argumentation is simple and straightforward. He narrates an event and poses questions why such an event should have happened. Its root causes! He concludes human mind is the root cause. How initial successes of such wicked leaders sooner or later were trailed by failures. He is careful enough to avoid reductionism to a single, all-embracing explanation. He cites the example and wonders at the capacity of the ideological leaders to brainwash the Chinese teenagers who were convinced about the necessity of killing the elders and their respected teachers. He tries to draw the moral map human psyche. How the mind gets engulfed with blind spots and loses its rationality to commit unimaginable acts of atrocities! He yet gives credit to the strength of moral authority by citing the Cuban Missile Crisis example, which ended in the triumph of moral imagination and historical reflection—how statesmen-like thinking and action was able to defeat the military advice, that would have led to unimaginable consequences, with the threat of use of nuclear weapons looming large! The climb-down from the leaders of both the camps saved humanity from a great danger. The details provided by Glover is not description, but to show the inherent strength of normative and ethical principles. The moral resources are powerful and effective, when used well in time. He examines the capabilities of the ruling leaders to motivate the moral behavior that can lead to immense positive results. (4) Evidence adduced in favor of the argument(s). Glover heavily leans on the 19th Century German philosopher, Nietzsche,to propound his arguments. Recall his famous statement, “God is dead.” He tries to substantiate and builds a philosophy on the consequences visualized by him on the basis of that fact. Nietzsche finds immediate retaliation from other intellectuals. He was ridiculed and trivialized. But his estrangement had solid qualifications, basis and a solid foundation. He attacked blind beliefs of the Western civilization on the basis of facts related to rationalism of the Enlightenment, the advent of science and materialistic civilization, and opined how the conventional religion is at a disadvantageous position. The authority of the moral science as was practiced by the religious hierarchy was in doldrums. People would no more be convinced by religious platitudes, and the expectations of the priests and rulers were no more the final commandments. Nietzsche categorically stated that as for ethics, one must be one's own God. One's morality should be developed by one's own understanding of the societal conditions. Glover is in partial agreement as for this position. Whereas he agrees that no authority can force us with the moral truths, he disagrees that the moral nihilism is the answer. The horrors of the 20th century, according to Glover are the consequences of the efforts of humans to equate themselves with God and function against the divine sanction and order. For Nietzsche, these were hard and unpleasant truths--truths so painful that only the strongest would be willing to face them. And much of the horrors of the 20th century which Glover reviews are, in fact, consequences of human efforts to "become their own gods" and to build new human worlds, devoid of divinity. Glover agrees with Nietzsche premise that there are no moral truths given us by authority. But unlike Nietzsche, he rejects the conclusion that moral nihilism follows. We derive morality from introspection into the moral resources which we find in the human heart. We reflect on what those resources are, on how they get overwhelmed and manipulated to our horror, and on how we might better sustain and enhance them. In the end, Glover answers Nietzsche, but not by reaffirming morality from authority. Instead, he harkens back to Plato's fundamental ethical argument: the just person is better off than the unjust because only the just are at peace with themselves. The solution is not in the stars, but in ourselves. (5) A critical evaluation of the book in light of the material discussed in the course. The book is neither too big nor too small. Within the scope of 480 pages, the author has tried to cover as many important issues related to the moral history of the twentieth century, for which humanity needs to remain deeply indebted. The important topics like Ethics without Mortal Law, The Mortal Psychology of waging war, Tribalism, War as a Trap, Belief and Terror: Stalin and his heirs, The will to create Mankind anew: The Nazi Experiment and On the Recent Moral History of Humanity, have been taken care of. The author has engaged in critical evaluation of the many moral issues. According to him,“ The aim of using ethics to interrogate history is to help understand a side of human nature often left in darkness.” (p.4) Highly powered intellectual 'torches' have been used by the thinkers, philosophers and historians to analyze why the leaders behaved in the way they behaved.” Why one section of the human being turned out to be the worst enemy of another section of human beings. Why the pages of human history are daubed in bloodshed with violence related to religion, color, race, ethnicity, aggrandizement of wealth and to acquire new territories! (6) Whether the writer competently accomplished his goal(s)? Every attempt has been made in the book to bring ethics and history together. In any period of humankind, they were never separate either! But the main topic of the book is the twentieth-century moral history. The connotation of humanity needs to be understood in another sense—it needs to be compared to inhumanity. When inhumanity is discussed it goes without saying that the scope of humanity can be understood in a better manner. Darkness can be perfectly understood only in comparison to light. The twentieth century atrocities have been given the prominent place in the moral history, because the social causes that gave rise to such activities and their aftermath, created serious social, political impacts on the society. Boundaries of the nations were defined; new political alignments came into being. New political philosophies were tested with disastrous consequences. The elasticity of moral and ethical fabric was tested to the breaking point. New moral and ethical concepts came to be accepted as a way of life. The history of twentieth-century, is something very special. The surprises thrown by the technology have benefited the mankind on the one hand. On the other hand, it has centralized the decisions relating to major wars in very-few highly selective political functionaries of a country! They preside over the destinies of millions of people, and the push-button wars can result in unimaginable horrors. The entire exercise can be over within a matter of hours, if not less! This possibility is mind-boggling. Glover writes, “ But it is still right that much of twentieth-century history has been a very unpleasant surprise. Technology has made a difference. The decisions of a few people can mean horror and death of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of other people.”(p.3) (7) Are there any significant weaknesses in the work? There are no significant weaknesses in the book, except that Glover has not paid serious attention(but has made passing references) to the fact that ethical and philosophical values keep on changing with the changing times. There is a great distinction between the ethical and philosophical values and the domain of the ultimate truth!(spirituality). Ethics and philosophy are mind-level subjects, and hence transient. What is relevant from the point of view of ethics today, may be irrelevant some years/decades later. The reader has to go through the contents of this book, keeping in mind the aforesaid limitations. The author sometimes argues without aiming at any concrete solutions. Such a book must make an analysis of literature concerning moral and political philosophy and the social evolutionary processes and its bearing on the human psychology. (8) What are its strengths? Correct observations and stunning insight of the authors to dissect the moral history of the twentieth century is the strength of the book. For example, the following assertion describes something authentic about the shift that is taking place in the scope of ethics. They comment about how ethics could be more empirical than it is. “ There has been a shift of emphasis in philosophical discussion of ethics, away from purely abstract questions to more practical ones. Discussions of the right and the good, or of the analysis of moral judgments, have given some ground. Now there are discussions of the just war, moral dilemmas in medicine, social justice, human rights, feminism, nuclear deterrence, genetic engineering, animal rights and environmental issues. The shift of concern towards 'applied ethics' has been beneficial. What is humanly most important has been moved from the margins to the center.”(p. 5-6) An issue like drug addiction has emerged as the most important one, that is out to threaten the economy, social fabric, morality of the youth and national security. A close link between the drug smugglers and the terrorist organizations has been observed. The seriousness of the problem and how its affects the moral and ethical fiber of the society, needs some detailing. The menace of drug addiction has assumed alarming proportions all over the world, with no signs of abating. Its catastrophic consequences can be observed in the combustible younger generation, which is burning itself in the fire of addiction. When any substance modifies perception, mood, cognition, behavior and motor function, where is the scope for morality and ethics in such an individual? The race for quick, ill-gotten profits is fast changing the world's political landscape and further eroding both the resolve and ability of Nations to fight back. If the politics of silence on the drug issue is not reviewed well in time and suitable remedial measures are taken....not the atom bombs, but the drug bombs will destroy humanity! This is just one example of the moral history of the twentieth century and the shift taking place in the scope of ethics. (9) What are some of the most valuable points I learn from the book and can apply? Human mind is a rare gift of God with immense, immeasurable power of unlimited supreme energy, which manifests through it when it is made to shine with supreme brilliance. It is a double-edges sword—where it, if bridled by the reins of true knowledge, ethics and morality, can lift open the portals for peaceful living, there it, if unbridled, can also make a hell out of our life. The book provides enough examples how a mind dominated by evil tendencies and wrong ambitions of political/military leaders led to catastrophic events. They are part of history now. The study of some of the major military and political event's of the 20th century back to back, it gives the graphic picture of how millions of people died by the cruel acts perfected by the men of hate, whether it is My Lai, World War I, Hiroshima, and more recently massacres in Cambodia, slaughtering of the people in the name of Cultural Revolution in China, the horrors committed by Stalin under the protective shield of ushering Communism and projecting the objective of improving the economic lot of the workers, Hitler's Nazism, to cleanse the world of a particular race—the book provides insight into the reasons for such horrid acts and the lessons one has to learn from them. The question is, what were the compulsions for the human beings to commit such heinous acts? Crossing the borders of mind-level reasoning, Glover seems to knock at the portals of spirituality. He poses a question why these distinctive patterns of cruelty happen repeatedly in history. He advises one and all to look within , move to the realm of inner search to trace the monsters within. The efforts needs to tame the negative tendencies and fill the many societal segments with positive vibrations. The moral resources need to be fully exploited, utilized and put into operation in the daily interactions of thousands of minds to form a formidable collective force. He identifies some of the negative tendencies that need urgent attention, like turn personal enmity into feuding, war, genocide, assumed struggle between the groups, to eliminate one group is necessary for the survival of the other. To counter these, Glover falls back on moral resources like sympathy, empathy and respect. He warns, how an avalanche of hatred propagated by s few leaders can burst the moral dam built with great efforts. Glover shrewdly cites examples from the history. To highlight the lifestyle of Stalin, he tenders an argument about Socrates. He writes, Stalin's "life gives striking support to what Socrates said about the life of an immoral person not being enviable. His bitterness, paranoia and fear make it hard to imagine anyone else wanting to be Stalin" (p. 250). Conclusion: The pages of human history daubed in bloodshed related to wars, religious conflicts, territorial aggrandizement, plundering for acquisition of gold and wealth, to assert the race superiority, ask the crying question. How to make this planet heaven-like? The answer is simple and straightforward. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses conflicts-enough, these alone are enough! Such attitudes are the outcome of the moral and ethical base prevailing in the society, which the author emphasizes quite often in the book, by giving appropriate examples. ******************* Works Cited: Glover, Professor Jonathan. Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press, September 1, 2001. Read More