Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. Most people remember the moral of the fable “The Dragonfly and the Ant”, which is that you can’t always have fun, you need to have time and work. Otherwise, after long idleness, heavy retribution will come in the form of hunger and cold.
In this and his other works, fabulist Ivan Krylov tries to convey to the reader generally accepted rules that should be followed so as not to harm yourself.
Thus, morality represents general provisions designed for all members of society and reflecting the consciousness of the public.
Let's look into this in more detail.
Definition and Characteristics
Morality is the socially accepted ideas about good and evil, about what is right and what is wrong. The ability to distinguish good from bad is manifested in the actions and thoughts of both individuals in particular and human associations in general. Morality is a way of self-organization of society with its inherent controlling aspects.
Moral standards have their own distinctive features:
- Extension to all members of society, regardless of their position.
- Freedom of choice in following or not following moral standards, although a person’s decision is significantly influenced by his conscience, public opinion and belief in the existence of karma and other personal prejudices.
- Total penetration into all spheres of people’s lives, be it economic or social, including their range of interests and activities: creativity, education or business.
general characteristics
The concept of morality is often identified with the concept of “morality”. They define a system of norms of behavior and communication, values, and value judgments of a person.
Throughout history, scholars have assessed morality as:
- A system of norms
, values and principles that are imposed on a person from birth. - A separate sphere
of individual personality development. - principles;
- ideals;
- meaning of life;
- criteria of spirituality;
- moral qualities of a person.
Morality includes the following components:
Rice.
1. Components of morality Morality is characterized by two features:
- norms can be maintained for a very long time in a society. They are passed on through generations until significant changes occur that offer new values.
- norms change with the course of history, as society gradually changes and must adapt to a new reality. New layers of society with their own morality become larger and stronger, spreading their norms until they become generally accepted.
Important! Moral consciousness becomes the basis on which the individual’s attitude towards himself and the world around him is formed. It builds a scale for assessing good and evil, beliefs, and other people.
Concepts of the emergence of morality
A separate branch of philosophy, ethics, studies the essence of morality and its influence on the consciousness and actions of people. Answering the question about the origin and development of human morality, scientists divided into three main groups, each of which tends to a certain point of view:
Morality is given to people by God
Divine law (which has the highest, primary significance for the foundations of morality) consists of three steps:
- the eternal law, which is hidden in the divine mind, implies that without faith in God there will be no morality;
- the natural law of morality, the meaning of which is that human nature, the soul created by the creator, constantly strives to merge with him;
- positive human law, the lowest level of the three, is a community of legal and moral norms that are accepted in society.
The religious concept is authoritarian and unchanging, it presupposes clear boundaries in the consideration of good and evil. The requirements of divine law are expressed in commandments.
Ethical standards are inherent in people from the very beginning
Proponents of this naturalistic concept, relying on the scientific works of Charles Darwin and P. Kropotkin, expressed the idea of the similarity of the psychology of consciousness and behavior of primitive people and animals. In ancient times, a person’s first place was the clan with all the customs and rules established in it, taboos and prejudices, habits and interests that were mandatory for the majority, which implied the merging of individual representatives into a single whole. From here, adherents of this idea believe, ethics arose and began to develop; from this identification of oneself with others, the concept of justice, and later - morality, appeared.
The emergence and improvement of morality occurred only with the development of society
Representatives of the sociological point of view believe that the answer to the question of the emergence of morality should not be sought in human essence. The primary source here is the historical and social conditions for the development of society, as well as its needs, the satisfaction of which is expressed in the desire to organize the optimal coexistence of people with each other in a more profitable and convenient way for oneself (society).
Freedom and responsibility (8th grade)
A person must always comprehend his actions, foresee their consequences - good or evil - and, of course, bear responsibility for the result. Because, even if we work hard and earn good money, but at the same time we do not think about the meaning of our activity, its social consequences, we can become a toy in the hands of evil and, willy-nilly, help commit crimes. Each of us, whether we want it or not, always bears responsibility for the social results of our actions. To be a responsible person means to correctly understand your own and other people’s problems and difficulties, try to foresee the results of your actions and be able to answer for them. There are different types of responsibility, but the most important one is moral responsibility , responsibility before one’s own conscience. Freedom is the ability to act at your own discretion . But if you have already made a choice, you will be responsible for your actions yourself. Because freedom and responsibility are like two sides of the same coin: one is impossible without the other. Freedom without responsibility is irresponsibility, it is arbitrariness, it is permissiveness, licentiousness. Irresponsibility is always associated with indifference and frivolity, with empty self-confidence. This is a blind, thoughtless, random choice, which often leads to harmful consequences, both for others and for the one who committed the irresponsible act. From this we can conclude that a person is always in a difficult situation. There has never been a ready answer, and there never will be. You have to decide for yourself what to do and take responsibility for your choice.
Norms and principles of morality
Of all the variety of moral norms, it is customary to highlight only seven, which are becoming the most widespread and relevant in the modern world (their influence can also be traced in religious teachings):
- Sanity, or prudence, that is, the ability of an individual to think prudently, without succumbing to emotions and momentary impulses.
- Asceticism, or abstinence, extends not only to sexual relations between people, but also to restrictions on food, entertainment and other pleasures, because an excess of material values distracts from the improvement of spiritual values.
- Justice, or impartiality, manifested in the assessment of other people, including respect for them, their needs and interests. For all actions that a person has committed in relation to others, at a certain time there should be a commensurate response: retribution or reward.
- Stubbornness, or steadfastness, means the ability to overcome difficulties and learn from them. It can be shared with others, helping to move forward, despite the obstacles that arise along the path of life.
- Hard work, or perseverance, is a quality that helps a person realize himself in any business related not only to personal gain, but also to public benefit. This moral principle has been valued since the very beginning of humanity and is of great importance in society to this day.
- Humility, or submission, expresses a person’s ability to stop in time, before he has time to mess things up.
- Politeness, or delicacy, is the basis of diplomacy, constructive relationships and profitable deals.
In addition to the above-mentioned moral standards, there are moral principles that help determine common, similar forms of interaction between people in society. These are the behavioral criteria:
- humanism - the highest value is the person, his dignity and self-worth;
- collectivism - the conscious desire of the individual to contribute with all his might to the common good;
- altruism - willingness to help others free of charge and selflessly;
- mercy - a manifestation of good nature, goodwill, compassion and philanthropy;
- voluntary renunciation of extreme individualism and manifestations of selfishness;
- the principle of the golden mean - a sense of proportion in everything: in deeds, actions, emotions;
- the principle of talion, or “an eye for an eye” - the need to compensate for losses to one individual at the expense of another, if the loss of the first was due to the fault of the second. At the same time, it is necessary to tune in to the search for positive and constructive methods of exiting crisis or conflict situations.
A moral norm obliges a person to perform certain actions or prescribes how he should behave in similar situations; a moral principle shows the general direction of effort to be made during an activity.
The main rule of a good person. Golden rule of morality (grade 6)
2500 years ago in the Himalayas there lived a man whose name was Buddha - “enlightened one”. He was a prince, but left his kingdom to travel. Getting to know the world, he learned how much grief and evil there is among people. Buddha wanted to teach people to be happy. He believed that, to happiness, one must follow the path of good thoughts, good deeds and kind words: “do not do to others what you yourself consider evil.”
The golden rule of morality (also called the golden rule of morality) is a way of correctly choosing an action based on a good attitude towards another person. People always face a choice, so they need to know what to do in a given situation. People are also interested in how to properly prove whether they did the right thing. The golden rule of morality teaches you to live correctly, not to do bad things, because all evil will come back.
Purpose of morality
To understand how important the importance of morality and its functions is in human life, it is necessary to consider the main ones:
Regulatory function
Legislative acts are a way of regulating relations between people and their behavior, which is fixed at the official, that is, formal level. The main difference between the regulatory function of morality is that it does not require any documents, since the adoption of moral norms and principles is a voluntary desire of a person; they regulate his actions, becoming part of his personal views, principles and beliefs.
Evaluation function
It consists in the perception of one’s own and others’ actions, that is, it is a moral assessment of reality from the point of view of its comprehension based on humanistic potential.
Educational function
Thanks to moral norms, moral principles, as well as rules of behavior that educate a person in society, certain social ideals are formed and a person’s internal desire is developed to ensure a proportional combination of individual and public interests so that the efforts made in achieving set goals do not cause harm to others.
Control function
Unspoken control by others over an individual’s behavior; As a backlash to certain actions, both positive and negative sanctions can be imposed.
Integrating function
It exists to maintain a harmonious state within a person, since everyone analyzes their actions and actions, including from a moral point of view.
Moral requirements
- Rules of conduct (give way to elders, do not lie, etc.)
- Moral qualities (honesty, compassion, justice)
- Moral principles (altruism)
- Psychological mechanisms (conscience)
- Moral values (kindness, happiness, etc.)
- Moral culture is the extent to which an individual perceives the norms and values of the society in which he lives.
Morality is the confrontation between good and evil. Good is understood as a person’s attraction to maintaining interpersonal relationships and achieving perfection. Good is creative in nature, and evil is destructive (destroys social relations and personality from the inside)
Moral choice is the degree of freedom between choosing good and evil. The individual is responsible for the consequences not only to society, but also to himself.
The importance of morality in human society
Morality is included in absolutely all areas of human life, while it itself is not an organized sphere of activity. Morality cannot be institutionalized or controlled in any way, but at the same time it is comprehensive. Ethical requirements are expressed in the form of an imperative, as a command to act in a certain way out of a sense of moral duty to other people.
Man is a biosocial being, therefore the presence of society is necessary for his normal life. Each of us has a need to be close to other representatives of the species Homo sapiens. Only with the help of morality, which manifests itself through rules and requirements, as well as the self-awareness of an individual and any community as a whole, is the collective expression of will expressed to harmonize individual and group interests.
In society there is a commonality of three elements of the structure of morality:
- moral activity;
- moral consciousness;
- moral relations.
Morality is very important both for the life of an individual and for the normal functioning of society as a whole, because it acts as a natural regulator of relationships, a kind of internal censor to which we turn when we do not know whether we are doing the right thing.
Personal values and moral principles of society
What values you have, and how they align with the moral values of your community and your own actions, directly influence your sense of belonging and, more broadly, life satisfaction.
Personal values are principles you believe in and have invested in. Values are the goals you strive for; they largely determine the essence of personality. But more importantly, they are a source of motivation for self-improvement. People's values determine what they want personally, while morals determine what the society around those people wants for them.
Humanistic psychologists suggest that people have an innate sense of values and personal preferences that tend to be hidden beneath layers of social demands and expectations (social morality). Part of the human journey involves the gradual rediscovery of those innate and highly personal desires that are unconsciously hidden when they are found to conflict with the demands of society. However, if one takes an inventory of values, most well-socialized people will find that there is a high degree of correspondence between what they want and what society wants.
Yes, certain behaviors are considered desirable and others are not, but for the most part, as we have seen, morality is not set in stone and often reflects local cultural characteristics and historical aspects that tend to change.
Moral feelings and self-control (8th grade)
Self-control is the ability to control one’s behavior, based on the use of will, to resist the influences of the external environment and internal drives. Thanks to self-control, we are able to subordinate our own emotions and realize our own imperfections. Self-control can be called a strength of character, thanks to which we can suppress unnecessary emotions, control feelings and overcome complexes. Self-control is a strong-willed quality necessary for every successful person, whether he grows potatoes or commands an army.
Moral knowledge and practical behavior (8th grade)
Unlike state laws, there is no official punishment for violating moral standards. What can ensure compliance with moral standards? The simplest solution at first glance is to take moral norms and turn them into state laws. Simple, but unwise for several reasons. Firstly, is it possible to fit concepts such as “compassion”, “honor”, “conscience” into legal norms? And secondly, even if this were possible, would everyone who would fulfill such norms really begin to do so quite sincerely? Or will they rather portray highly moral people, thereby increasing hypocrisy and lies? There is a point of view that violations of moral standards, and crimes in general, are the result of property inequality. Proponents of this position argue: for morality to triumph, it is necessary to create a system in which the needs of all people will be fully satisfied. At the same time, the causes of crime will disappear. But there will always be people who strive for power and self-affirmation, while wanting to achieve what they want at any cost. Unfortunately, there are no legislative, social or other guarantees of morality. There is only one guarantee - it is in each individual person, in his ability to act morally .
Ethics is one of the popular sciences of the early 21st century
Even those who study it or face ethical problems in their activities are not sure that ethics is a science.
The contribution of science to people's lives is equated with their importance: the increasing speed of technological change increases the sense of importance of the natural and applied sciences behind them, while the effect of the discoveries of the humanities is less noticeable, some of them have not brought news for so long that they become synonymous with uselessness.
And ethics in a scientific context is also an irritant for many. If ethics were officially among the sciences, a crowd with torches would definitely come for it, demanding sacrifice as payment for Pluto.
The image of a crowd with torches, although metaphorical, is just as relevant in an era when people are busily discussing how best to organize a visit to Mars, as in the days when they were afraid to sail ships too far into the ocean, lest they be accidentally thrown over the edge of the Earth. washed away. Because the crowd has not gone away: instead of torches there are flashlights on smartphones, from which the crowd now gathers online.
And this is no less important an indicator of the dynamics of scientific development than Martian plans.
Accelerating technological progress shows the potential of the natural sciences, and stalling social and cultural development is the price of stagnation in the social and human sciences.
Ethical problems have always been part of objective reality, influencing it, leaving consequences and even economically expressible ones - money does not combine well with morality, and calculating the cost of ethical costs, for example, is quite realistic.
One of the most pressing examples right now is the policies that guide online mass communication platforms (primarily social networks and social media) in regulating the relationships among their users, with their users—and even the internal relationships within their teams.
The general state of affairs can be described as a deep split under the ideological monopoly of political correctness. The situation is like being stuck in quicksand, where every movement makes the situation worse - and begins to look hopeless; although she never was.
The problem of political correctness arose entirely due to the approach to the phenomenon of ethics as a political phenomenon. This is a problem of the erroneous language of description, and not the indescribability of the phenomenon itself.
What is political correctness
Political correctness is a secular system of ethics based on the protection of the weakest, the oppressed in the fight against inequality, which arose in the political movement of the New Left.
The New Left is a Western political movement for social justice that began in the late 1950s.
The New Left became an attempt to rebrand socialism, a term whose desired meaning had long been replaced by Stalinism, which had nothing in common with socialism, Marscoism, or the left idea in general.
At the end of the 50s, the first generation that did not experience the World War, at least at a conscious age, grew up among a huge number of other mothballed problems of society, the fight against which was destined to become the war of the post-war generation.
On the other hand, the consequences of Stalinism—including both the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult at the 20th Congress of the CPSU that same year—pushed the New Left to return to the ethical roots of Marxism—the humanistic ideals of the 18th century. -19th centuries - and the relaunch of the leftist idea from a preserved version that preceded how “something went wrong” with the “old left”.
The New Left turned out to be an eclectic movement: it united activists who fought for civil and political rights, women's rights, against racial discrimination, against persecution for sexual orientation, police brutality, colonial wars, the beginning of the war on drugs, etc. These were the original Social Justice Warriors.
There was no unity among them either regarding the idea of class struggle or regarding Soviet symbols, although the hammer and sickle were, de facto, a symbol of Stalinism - that is, precisely a symbol of the replacement of socialism with its complete opposite.
It was a struggle against the dominance of the ethic of moral inequality, perpetuated by the hierarchical structure of society, the response to which was the mirror interpretation of the manifestation of any inequality as a form of oppression - the cornerstone of the ethic of political correctness.
Political correctness is the ethics of social struggle, the ethics of the New Left movement, developed in the course of a clash with the ethical system of their fathers and grandfathers.
This is ethics based on the moral values of the movement that carried out the sexual revolution in the 60s, defeating racism, homophobia, militarism, etc. in battle. This does not mean that in the 70s none of this already existed - it means that ethics, which was dominant in the 50s, had enough defenders on its side who were convinced of their moral correctness, in the 70s already have been marginalized - for example, the ideas of white supremacy continue to exist to this day - but their bearers do not risk openly claiming moral superiority or equivalence to the ideas of equality of people of all bloods and colors.
It's the difference between two positions fighting and closing the distance between them. Even when the front line that separated people disappears, the distance between them does not disappear on its own. But this is a post-war concern, requiring a value system that encourages cooperation and tolerance.
In these circumstances, the ethics of struggle—even for a just cause, for social justice—becomes destructive, because when viewed through the prism of political correctness, here it is, the front line, in place, and has not disappeared anywhere. As a result, the ethics of the side that wins in the struggle of value systems turns from an instrument of victory into an instrument of split.
In the absence of a real struggle for real ideals, scenarios in which the scenario of social conflict is reproduced become more and more absurd: political correctness already functions like a cancerous tumor, metastasizing in the form of new self-destructive conflicts.
In a movement that began with Stonewall, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, the very concept of a Social Justice Warrior is now self-parody, a derisive shorthand for SJW, and their front is tweets from the 2000s and photographs from the 1980s.
Political correctness in the 21st century
By all indications, by the turn of the millennium, political correctness was already beginning to fade away, but then a revolution happened - the best gift for every leftist - Web 2.0, the revolution of social networks, which unexpectedly turned out to be fertile ground for the renaissance of the ideology of political correctness, with new energy tearing the communication fabric with contradictions already in XXI century.
Google's dismissal of James Damore, an engineer and biologist by training, in 2022 turned out to be a big scandal because in an analytical note compiled at the request of his colleagues, he mentioned the biologically determined difference in the psychological predisposition of people of different sexes to different types of activities - in other words , that women are a minority in software development, so the majority have found something more interesting to do.
In a similar situation, Twitter, and with it YouTube: bloggers are banned, videos are demonetized - and all this happens in a very nervous atmosphere, because for every user who agrees with what is happening, there are users who, not unreasonably, reproach the policies pursued by the services for various sins against common sense.
The Internet, which until recently was a space left to its own devices, largely organized by self-organization, suddenly turned into a battlefield between the Holy Inquisition and heretics, whom Google is almost literally trying to ban.
This reversal would be extremely dramatic if it weren’t so ironic: the creators of most social networks are rather antisocial people.
And Jack Dorsey, who invented Twitter, suddenly found himself in the situation of an acoustic engineer who designed the new stage of the Mariinsky Theater, who was suddenly announced that from now on he was giving two concerts a week, replacing Gergiev as a conductor.
How did he get into this situation? After all, for a long time, Twitter, like Facebook, like YouTube, and many other platforms felt great in the role of a platform, and interventions in the life of the community were, for the most part, limited to settling copyright claims.
In a sense, these were carefree pagan times, akin to the life of the inhabitants of the Caribbean islands before Columbus landed on their shores. In the face of political correctness, the anarchic space of eclectic pagan beliefs for the first time encountered the power of an organized ethical system.
