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Essay on Personal Ethical System

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Personal ethical system We human beings live in a society. The society or the social world we live in is based on human cooperation. In other words, the individuals in a society do not live in an isolated self-centered world. The human interactive system presupposes ethical and moral standpoint from which we operate. My personal ethical system is based on “service before self” and “love your neighbors as yourself”. The question that I wish to address in context of these two principles of my personal ethical system is whether my ethical system is capable of being universally applied and followed. Can we think of a possible situation when this system will break down so that it becomes indefensible? In other words, for an …show more content…

What is meant by going beyond the individual bio-organic needs is that only human beings are capable of achieving self-fulfillment or what Maslow calls self-actualization that comes not from meeting one’s personal needs of food, thirst, security etc but going beyond them in the service of others. The driving force behind men going beyond their personal and immediate needs to those of the others first is the unique quality characterizing every human called “love”. That is why, in my opinion, love for others so that one may adopt “service before self” and “love thy neighbors as thyself” as their guiding ethical principle is what may be understood as the ultimate human goodness. This ethical system is different from both the Utilitarian of Mill and the Categorical Imperative of Kant. The principle of utilitarianism holds the belief in the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Mill equates happiness with pleasure, while pleasures are of higher and lower value. Pleasures of mind are higher than the pleasures of body. For instance, pleasure of learning is more valuable than pleasures of eating and drinking. The decision on value of pleasure rests on the consensus of experienced observers. The moral foundation of utilitarianism rests on the principle of “greatest happiness of the greatest number” where happiness of every sentient being counts equally. The ethical system as proposed in this paper draws from the unique human capacity of love

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