Philosophy of Humanity

Ethics (Moral Philosophy)

Absolute Justification of Ethics

Morality is, first and foremost, a complex system of behavioral norms—that is, a set of prescriptions dictating how human behavior ought to be. These norms are only effective, meaning people will follow them, when they have sufficient justification. Any behavioral norm (whether moral rules, legal regulations, customs, etc.) can only be upheld by people if they are given an explanation of why they ought to observe it, by whom these norms have been established, and what consequences follow from observing or violating them. Answers to these questions are provided by ethical theories, which offer a justification for moral norms. Throughout the history of moral philosophy, numerous ethical theories have emerged. They can, for convenience, be divided into three groups: the first includes theories that argue that moral norms are absolute and are justified by a Supreme Being; the second group contains theories that seek to explain ethical norms by referencing the ends that require adherence to these norms for their achievement; the third group encompasses theories based on the belief that moral norms are relative, situational, and lack any inherent justification. This division, however, is not precise, as the same thinkers may acknowledge multiple theories simultaneously. For example, the founders of utilitarianism were Christians and thus did not oppose Christian ethics to utilitarianism.

The oldest, most widespread, and most effective justification for ethics is religion. If there is a law, there must also be a lawgiver. It is hard to imagine that the laws of a state or the internal regulations of a company arose out of nowhere; they are established by a legislator who has the necessary authority to create laws and to reward compliance or punish violations. If laws and rules of conduct in localized human communities are established by a legislator, then universal moral laws must also be established by someone. The lawgiver who establishes moral laws, and the judge who rewards or punishes for adherence or violations, is God. Religious ethics are founded on this principle. Humanity has survived throughout its history and organized itself into communities because they adhered to moral norms, and they followed these norms because they acknowledged God as the absolute authority who commanded their observance. Until states were formed and complex political systems arose, morality and law were indistinguishable, functioning as nothing less than the articulation of divine law. God established laws for everything: nature, morality, the state, personal hygiene, and nutrition. These laws must be followed; the violator will be punished. It is important to note that the violator is not punished by God or some external authority, but by their own actions. For example, when someone, ignoring the laws of physics, attempts to jump from a high window, they will perish, and their death will be the punishment for disregarding the law of gravity. In this case, neither God, nor nature, nor other people are punishing the violator—they themselves are the source of their punishment the moment they violated the laws of physics.

The earliest formulations of moral and state laws are found in the sacred scriptures of the world’s religions. For instance, the largest and oldest collection of laws in ancient India is the Laws of Manu, which Hindus regard as divine law and which contains prescriptions concerning state, international, and family law, as well as moral and ritual norms. The moral and legal culture of European peoples was shaped under the influence of Christianity, and at its foundation lie behavioral rules found in the Bible. These rules are common to the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and at the same time represent universal moral principles. They are described in the biblical Book of Exodus and are known as the Ten Commandments of God, or the Decalogue:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The Ten Commandments of God represent a formulation of universal moral principles. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, where love and mercy are emphasized, the commandments of the Old Testament are supplemented by two commandments of love, which are presented in the Gospel of Mark:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Another cornerstone of Christian moral life is the Beatitudes, which Jesus Christ proclaimed in His Sermon on the Mount, and which are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke:

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
8. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Philosophical reflection on the problem of morality began in ancient Greece, but not simultaneously with other branches of ancient philosophy. The pre-Socratic philosophers were primarily interested in nature and devoted little attention to the problems of morality. The first to focus on ethics was Socrates, who remains a symbol of high morality in European culture, not only because his life was exemplary, but because morality was central to his philosophy. He lived in Athens during its political and economic zenith, yet amidst this material prosperity, the city's inhabitants experienced a crisis of moral values. It is in such times that a prophet, capable of revealing true values, becomes the greatest divine gift for any people. For Athens, that prophet was Socrates.

Socrates taught that every person enters this world with knowledge and goodness already within them. However, this knowledge and goodness are in an implicit form. The task of education is not to instill new knowledge but to help individuals articulate the knowledge they already possess. Socrates’ father was a sculptor, and his mother was a midwife. The sculptor, in carving a statue from stone, did not create something new but drew forth the beautiful statue that was already within the stone; everything contained in the statue was already present in the stone. Similarly, the midwife does not create the child, but merely helps the child, already present in the mother’s womb, to be born. Socrates applied the same principle to his teaching: he did not impose new knowledge on his students but, through dialogue, helped them formulate their own knowledge, convinced that they already possessed all possible knowledge, needing only assistance to actualize it.

Like all knowledge, the knowledge of goodness and moral principles is also present in the human soul a priori. The very nature of a person governs their inclinations: a healthy person always desires only the good. When a person does evil, it is because they are mistaken. In truth, even in committing evil, a person still seeks the good; they simply have erroneous conceptions of good and evil. For example, when a thief steals, they aim to improve their material condition. Enrichment is good. Therefore, the criminal believes they are doing good for themselves. To prevent people from committing crimes, it is necessary to help them clarify their understanding of good and evil.

A person who has rightly ordered their moral life attains a special state that Socrates called virtue. Socrates’ contribution to moral philosophy lies in making morality a central topic of philosophy. Goodness, in his view, is an inherent characteristic of humanity, which means that human nature compels individuals to be good and to adhere to moral principles. To make these moral principles an effective guide for human behavior, education is necessary, helping individuals realize their moral potential.

Socrates, like any genius, left open questions that his disciples were tasked with answering. The most pressing among them was the nature of goodness. After Socrates’ death, his followers established their own philosophical schools, collectively known as the Socratic schools. Each of these schools sought to explain the nature of goodness. Euclid of Megara, the founder of the Megarian school, placed ethics at its center. Before becoming Socrates' student, Euclid had studied in the Eleatic school of philosophy, whose most prominent thinker, Parmenides, taught about an absolute and unchanging reality distinct from the sensory world. Euclid merged the philosophical legacies of Parmenides and Socrates, demonstrating that Being and Goodness are two names for the same reality. Goodness is being. For Socrates, goodness was exclusively a moral category, a criterion for judging human actions. This meant that Socrates spoke about good deeds, but not about goodness itself. Euclid showed that goodness is a real substance—not just one among many, but the very being that enables everything else to exist: to the extent that something is good, it exists. Euclid demonstrated that goodness transcends the sensory world. If goodness were only a moral category, it could be achieved through good deeds; however, if goodness is an ontological category that surpasses the sensory world, it can only be attained through spiritual and intellectual effort.

Plato, who was both a disciple of Socrates and a close friend of Euclid, further developed the ideas of Socrates and Euclid. Plato’s philosophical legacy was so influential on the subsequent history of philosophy that it would be fair to call him the greatest philosopher in human history. The task Plato set for himself was to explain in detail the thoughts expressed by Socrates and Euclid. He argued that since everything that exists is created, it requires a cause. The final cause of all things is an ideal model existing in an unchanging, eternal world. There are two worlds: the first is the world in which we live and which we perceive through our senses; the second is the world of ideal forms.