May 12, 2009 at 12:27 pm (Ethics)
Tags: Christianity, Ethics, Islam, Judaism, moral relativism, morals
How can you not be a moral relativist? You had to learn your morals from somewhere. After you learn what the moral behavior is you need to do it in relative terms to the situation.
The rabbis had figured this out a long time ago. If things were not relative to the situation why do we need a fence around the laws in the Torah. This fence or grey zone is ever widened so that you do not accidentally transgress.
Today we have the Pope giving yet another speech on the moral relativism of the world. Relative to what? Jews and Christians drink wine and Muslims don’t. Christians and Muslims eat chicken with milk but Jews do not. The law says do not boil the kid in the mother’s milk. And what does this have to do with chicken? To keep you from mistaking meat for chicken it is applied to all meats besides fish. It is all relative.
Christians pick and choose which laws they would like to follow from the Hebrew bible but remain moral relative to the teachings of Jesus. Jews do not follow any of the teachings of Jesus or Mohammad. Relative to which religion do we make the morals work?
Let me give another example where all three religions would agree. Stealing is wrong. It seems very clear. So let me ask you at what point do you believe it is stealing? Let’s say you work in an office all day long and:
- You remember you have a few things to do at home and you take a piece of paper and write down your list and you bring it home. Are you stealing?
- You have to buy your mom a present and you have some time before your next meeting, so you use the computer at work and buy a gift. You use both company time and their computer is that stealing?
- You are going to professional meeting not associated with work and you forgot a pencil. You go in the closet to get a pen and pencil and bring it with you.
- You need to print something out at home and you do not have time to go to the store so you bring a few sheets home.
- Your kid needs a notebook and you have an unused one on your desk. You bring it home for him to use.
Have any of these made you think that you were stealing?
Technically speaking these are all stealing. Now what if your company has a policy that allows you to do any one of these things every once in a while. Now when does it become stealing? How frequent do you need to do it to be stealing?
Moral relativism is a human trait. Those who believe that they are not moral relativists really need to provide me some good proof because I just don’t believe it.
Cross-posted on Blog Midrash
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June 18, 2008 at 9:11 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: behira, Ethics, morals, point
Why does it matter what your ethical standard is? Isn’t it your own decision to do what you want? Do you actually make full rational decisions about what you do and how you behave?
Seth Godin brings up proof that you do not have as much control as you think:
“A study out today shows that obesity is contagious. If your best friend gets fat, your chances of gaining weight more than double. Malcolm Gladwell fans will recall his reporting that suicide among teenagers can be contagious as well. So is terrorism, of course. And spamming. And graffiti. The most important thing you can do is choose who you’re hanging out with. The second high-leverage thing is to put dynamics in place that reinforce the ideas you’d like to see spread. Celebrate the heroes. Make it easy for those ideas to spread…”
Does your behira point matter? Yep. Does it matter who you hang with? Yep
If the action is ok for someone you trust, it becomes ok for you. What should you do about it?
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June 16, 2008 at 9:20 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: behira, ethical, Ethics, point, society
Do you remember the behira point? This is the point in which you begin to think that a behavior is wrong such as when is it appropriate to steal. Most people will say never. However, if you need a pen or a piece of paper for home is it ok to bring it from work. I thought you said that stealing was not ok?
I have been thinking that the societal behira point keeps getting moved up. I think that people on average think that it is ok to take a pen and paper from work. I would guess that people think it is ok to go shopping online while at work too. This is all stealing. The question is when does your sensibilities tell you that you are about to cross a line?
What makes people act ethically? Do you learn it from your parents? From your friends? Family? School? Society? What can we do to the behira point back down in general? Does it need to?
What do we do when we live in a multicultural society with many different norms? What ethical standards do we follow? Should we follow the society as a whole? It seems very difficult for most people to go against the societal norms. Should we follow the ones given to us by our religious heritage?
What do you think? If taking paper and pencils and shopping online are alright for our society then is ok to take a stapler, book? Should we just take a poll and whatever most people do is ok?
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June 15, 2008 at 8:54 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: books, Ethics, morals, studying
“That which is hateful unto you do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole of the Torah. The rest is commentary. Go forth and study.” – Hillel
I have been reading Rabbi Telushkin’s Book of Jewish Ethics. He starts off his book with this statement. As I read through the book I am amazed at how true this is. If I paid more attention to what I did and thought about how would feel about each thing I did I might behave differently.
I am an introspective person. I rehearse scenarios in my head trying to figure out how I could do something different the next time. Many times I figure out that I did something wrong well after the incident. I am not sure I have enough time to think about what is hateful to me in each interaction I have.
Does studying and thinking about different situations prepare you to be more nimble in real time? If we study different ethical and moral situations and go through the course of actions one could take, will that prepare us for real life? I would argue yes. For most people I think that it would increase their chances of acting ethically. I think everyone should study and practice how they interact with others. For Jews I recommend Telushkin’s books.
• A Code of Jewish Ethics: You Shall be Holy: Vol 1
• The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living
• Words that Hurt, Words that Heal: How to Use Words Wisely and Well
• Jewish Wisdom: Ethical, Spiritual, and Historical Lessons from the Great
Works and Thinkers
• The Ten Commandments of Character: Essential Advice for Living an Honorable,
Ethical, Honest Life.
The Book of Jewish Values is a great place to begin. Each topic is about a page long. It is just long enough to make you think and short enough to keep you attention. Try it.
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June 8, 2008 at 10:24 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Ethics, kindness, morals
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin starts off his Jewish Ethics Volume 1 with this statement:
Most parents, including many who regard themselves as committed Jews, take greater pride in their children’s intellectual or cultural achievements than in their kindness. While such parents want their children to be good people, they rarely see becoming ethical as the most important thing they and their children can do.
What does this mean? Smart, good looking and athletic are of primary importance to most parents today. So what if my son is an asshole? He is getting all As, he is the captain of the football team and he is on the debate team. At least he is smart and is going to a good school when he graduates.
Is this what is important? Is it more important to be smart and the best at something or kind and gentle and the next best? Only one person can be the best. Everyone can be kind and gentle.
I will argue that for success in the business world being the smartest and the best does not make you a winner. Being able to move fast, learn and work with others will get you much farther along. So what are we doing with our children? Shouldn’t we be teaching them what is right and wrong? Judaism has this framework built in. It has helped Jews be successful for thousands of years. Try it. It may change your childs life.
Thanks to David and Doug for many of the discussion points.
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