Download Q.l (b) Values - Intrinsic and Extrinsic Values Q.l.(c) Ethical Relativism

Q.l (a) Philosophy and branches of philosophy
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Definition of Philosophy: Philosophy literally means "Love of Knowledge" or,.Love
wisdom".
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It is the study of ganeral and fundamental problems conceming matters such as, existence,
knowledge, value, reason, mind and language.
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It deals with logical reasoning and critical thinking.
All faculty of knowledge
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comes under the umbrella of philosophy.
It helps us to think with clarity and
act judiciously.
Major branches of philosophy are: Metaphysics, Epistemology, philosophy of Religion,
Aesthetics, logic Ethics.
Q.l (b)
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Values
- Intrinsic
and Extrinsic Values
In ethics, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action with the aim of
determining what actions are best to perform or what way is best to live or to describe the
significance of different action. Philosophers define, value as an emotion of ..sentiment of
approval or disapproval," the satisfaction of a human desire.
Types of Values: Values are subjective and objective.
Values as Subjective- valuable till it serve our needs or desires , vary from person to person.
Values as Objective- Value are like a quality or a group of qualities that calls for appreciation or
preference.
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Intrinsic values are preferred to extrinsic values.
Values that are productive and relatively permanent ought to be chosen rather than unproductive
and passing.
Q.l.(c) Ethical Relativism
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Ethical Relativism- It is a doctrine that there are no absolute truths in ethics and that what is
morally right or wrong varies from person to person.
Universal tnrth is either a myth or impossible to determine.
Different groups of people have different ethical standards.
It is a belief that nothing is objectively right or wrong.
Two forms of Ethical Relativism: a) Social or Cultural Ethical Relativism, b) Individualistic
Ethical Relativism.
Criticism: a)Ethical Relativity Self Contradictory, b) Ethics reduce to head counting, c)
Relativism an Inconsistent Ethics.
Q.2 a) Nishkama karma Yoga
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Nishkama karma Yoga is the central teaching of the ethics of Gita.
It means there ought not to be any selfish motive or any ulterior motive behind actions we
perform.
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Two types of actions: Sakama and Nishkama.
In Nishkama karma actions are done in the spirit of detachment without selfish interest.
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Krishna makes Arjuna aware of his duty as a warrior or kshtriya by following the path of
Nishkama karma. This attitude does not lead to bondage and cycle of births and rebirths.
b) Stihthaprajna
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Stihthaprajna in Bhagvadgita: This is a moral ideal explained by Sri Krishna to Arjuna.
'sthita' means steady, equanimity and'prajna' means vision, insight, wisdom.
Sthitaprajna means one who is a stable minded wise person well established in divine consciousness
and with balanced attitude.
Such person is a yogi a disciplined soul.he is well balanced in extremities of life.
Such person develops love, compassion concern towards all animate and inanimate.
(c) Purusharthas
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Purusharthas:
It
literally means an "object of human pursuit". It is a key concept in Hinduism,
and refers to the four proper goals or aims of a human life.
The four purugdrthas are Dharma (righteousness, moral values), Artha(prosperilr, economic
values), KEma (pleasure, love, psychological values) and Mokqa (liberation, spiritual values).
Dharma -sigrrifies behaviors that are considered to be in accord with rta, the order that rnakes life
and universe possible, and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living
Artha- signifies the "means of life", activities and resources that enables one to be in a starc one
wants to be in' Artha incorporates wealth, career, activity to make a living, financial security and
economic prosperity.
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Kama-signifies desire, wish, passion, emotions, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyrnent
life, affection, or love, with or without sexual connotations.
Moksha-signifies emancipation, liberation or release. In some schools of
Hinduism, moksha connotes freedom from salnsdra, the cycle of death and rebirth, in other
schools moksha connotes freedom, self-knowledge, self-realization and liberation in this life.
Q.3 a) Socratic Ethlcs
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Two features of Socratic philosophy 'scientific' and ,practical'.
"All knowledge is through concept" is the scientific aspect
'Virtue is knowledge "is the practical aspect.
Care for wisdom and truth is the highest good.
It is better to suffer evil then to do evil.
No person is truly happy unless he is virtuous.
Virtue is its own reward.
b) Four principal virtues of Plato
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Cardinal virtues are fundamental virtues on which many other virtues are based, cardo means a
hinge.
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These virtues support the moral life.
The four principal virtues are wisdom, courage, Temperance, and
Justice.
c) Aristotelian Ethics
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For Aristotle the goal of ethics was eudemonia which meant happiness.
According to Aristotle virtue is habit and virhre has to be cultivated in
human character.
Ethics of Character
Ethics is the science of conduct.
Virtue is
a permanent state of mind formed with concunence of the
of what is best in actual life.
will
and based upon an ideal
For him virtue is a quality of character, a disposition to do what is right
in a particular direction.
Virtue is habit.
It refers to inner moral personality and is indicative of good character of a person.
classification ofvirtues: a) self-regarding, b) other regarding, c) Ideal regarding.
Q.4 a) Determinism
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Determinism: Some conceive free will to be the capacity to make choices in which
the outcome
has not been determined by past events. Determinism suggests that only
one course of events is
possible, whicb is inconsistent with the existence of such free will.
Determinists are impressed by the order in nature and the underlying principle of causation.
Principle of causality is contradictory to freedom.
Detenninism must be distinguished from predestination and fatalism.
For philosophers freedom means capacity to choose between the alternatives .The basic problem
of freedom is whether we are free or not?
Determinism rules out human freedom.
The determinist approach proposes that all behaviour is caused by preceding factors and is thus
predictable. The causal laws of determinism form the basis of science.
will is the idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assumes that we are
free to choose our behavio'r, in other words we are selfdetermined.
Free
Tlpes of determinism:
Scientificdeterminism
Since every event in nature has a cause or causes that account for its occurrence, and since human
beings exist in nature, human acts and choices are as determined as anything else in the world.
Religious determinism States that all events that happen are pre-ordained to happen by God.
Fatalism: the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable
b) Indeterminism
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Indeterminism: An individual can determine his actions without any motive or cause.
Indeterminist insists that some acts of choice are exempt from the operation of causal laws.
It stress that there are genuine possibilities in the future.
Everything is not causally connected.
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According to James, this world is open. There is space for novelty, chance and spontaneity.
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Certain decisions and acts (namely, "free" ones) have nothing that causes them
to occur; they are
pure chance events; they simply happen, having nothing to do
with the person doing the act.
Indeterminism as a philosophical theory: The scientific assumption that
all events in nature are
determined is unwarranted; indeed, chance events are perhaps even necessary to
account for the
diversity of things in the universe.
Besides, current flreoretical physics recognizes that subatomic events
occur in completely random
and (in principle) unpredictable ways.
A completely caused (determined) event is one that is predictable.
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But since not every event is completely predictable, not every event is caused.
Such indeterminacy opens up the possibility that we can really affect the future;
and in this way
we can be free and morally responsible.
Objections
Indeterminism reduces the whole scientific effort to explain nature and human beings
to mere
probability, and it makes such an effort a waste of time insofar as it does not guarantee
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understanding human behavior will allow us to improve it.
Ifchoices and actions are not determined even by one's personality or character, then a
so-called
"free" act would be one that occurs spontaneously and unpredictably (even to the person doing
it);
thus no one could justifiably be held responsible for doing an action which not even
he/she could
have predicted would occur.
Pure chance is thus not freedom in any sense that we would ordinarily recognize
c) Self determinism or Compatibilism
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Compatibilism reconciles freedom and determinism:
It maintains that determinism is compatible with free will. It may, however, be more accurate to
say that compatibilists deJine "free will" in a way that allows it to co-exist with determinism (in
the same way that incompatibilists define "free will" such that it cannot).
Compatibilists believe freedom can be present or absent in a situation for reasons that have
nothing to do with metaphysics.
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This theory proposes that the selfis a causal agent.
Thus, determinism and freedom may be combined.
This view is a'Golden mean'between the two extremes- Determinism and Freedom.
Free will is the power or ability to make choices for which one can be held morally responsible.
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Determinism is the thesis that at any one time the universe has exactly one physically possible
future.
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Compatibilism is the thesis that we can have free will in a deterministic world.
Compatibilist classically, have defined free will as the unhindered ability to do what we want,
whilst conceding that it remains the case that we are determined to want that which we want.
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Q.5 a)F'acts and Values
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Statements of facts are described as a state of affair or a fact. Informative bv nature.
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Either true or false.
For e.g. Ram is a tall boy, A square has four equal sides.
Value judgements appraise or evaluate the worth of objects, acts, feelings etc.
Tells us how person reacts to the situation.
Express positive and negative judgement. For e.g. Seema hates movies.
b) Rta and Rna:
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It is equated to the universal law in Indian philosophy.
It is cosmic order which is one and indivisible.
It signifies moral order.
It represents truth and harmony of the entire universe.
Rna means debt
The concept ofduty includes the concept ofRna.
It implies responsibilities and obligation.
Kinds of ma: a)Deva ma, b)Rishi ma, c)Pitru ma.
c) Characteristic of Greek ethics:
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Eudaimonism (happiness) is a moral philosophy that defures right action as that which leads to
the well being of the individual, which speaks the well being as the essential value.
Virtue means together with its activities, most important and dominant constituent of happiness.
Virtue is the only means to happiness.
Virtue is identical with happiness.
Good life is the ultimate goal is an objective and not subjective.
The earlier Greek thinker Democritus, Socrates and Plato speaks on similar notion.
d) Problem of Freedom:
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Man being a biological organism like any other being is a part of chain of events.
Thus person's behavior is determined by the surrounding conditions.
Being a creative human being posses the powers, with the help of which he can to a certain extent
control nature and manipulate it, to suit his own needs.
Freedom means the capacity to choose between available altemative.
The age old controversy which says that
do not have the freedom to do actions according to
my choice then how one can I be held responsible for its consequences.
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How to solve this contradiction?