Morality, Freedom, and Determinism: Exploring the Ethical Dimension
The Moral Dimension
The moral dimension is a characteristic of individuals and societies that arises when one feels there are ways of living more appropriate for humans than others. The moral life has two principal roots:
- The freedom that allows us to choose our way of life.
- The liability for which we must account for our choices.
1. The Moral Action
1.1 Morality vs. Amorality
An amoral being acts automatically and is not responsible for their actions, like animals. People, however, cannot be amoral, but moral or immoral. When we act, we don’t do so automatically; we imagine possibilities, choose one, and justify our choice if we are to behave rationally. An immoral person acts against the standards of conduct in a particular society.
1.2 Forging “Ethics” and “Morals”
“Ethics” (ethos) and “moral” (mores) deal with the ways of being or character that we create for ourselves throughout life, and also with our customs. At birth, we have a temperament—a set of feelings and passions—a mood, and a character, which are difficult to modify. However, we can acquire a new character if we choose those properties that better suit us as persons. Authors like Aranguren or Zubiri maintain that we have two types of properties: one by nature and others by acquisition. Man is a moral reality that necessarily acquires properties. This allows us to acquire new properties through the repetition of acts (behaviorism). When these habits predispose us to do right, they are called virtues; otherwise, they are called vices.
1.3 Conscience
Conscience is the ability to grasp the principles by which we distinguish moral good and evil in general. Individually, we can make practical judgments taking into account both these general principles and the situation. For example, a general principle would be “lying is not good,” but there are situations where it may be appropriate to lie to avoid aggravating someone’s pain. The best way to understand a moral principle is to try to implement it. Lying, in most cases, is bad because we instrumentalize ourselves or others.
A third function of consciousness is self-criticism, through which consciousness praises or disapproves of actions, punishing those considered bad with remorse. Accountability applies only to free and conscious beings.
2. Freedom and Responsibility
2.1 External and Internal Freedom
External freedom means nobody prevents us from acting as we see fit, always complying with the laws and customs of our country. External freedom is broader in some societies than in others, and it is lost when we are imprisoned or live in a dictatorship.
Internal freedom, or freedom of will, is the ability to decide for oneself on issues that affect us. Even without external freedom, we can have internal freedom. For example, we can decide not to eat, even in jail. Internal freedom is moral freedom—the ability to lead our lives according to our own criteria. To deprive us of it requires drugs, hypnosis, or similar things.
2.2 Determinism and Internal Freedom
Internal freedom is the will’s power to act without being determined by something external to it. It implies initiating a series of causes without the initial act having a cause itself. Two opposing views exist:
- Determinism: Nothing happens without a cause, including human conduct.
- Although we are conditioned to act in one way or another, we have a conscience and act freely.
2.3 Conditioning and Determination
Being conditioned is not the same as being determined. Being conditioned means that, although there is no absolute freedom, we retain enough freedom to be responsible for our actions. Being determined denies the possibility of human freedom entirely. Our behavior is influenced by multiple factors: temperament, society, economy, education, etc. These factors do not eliminate freedom but can strengthen it by providing the necessary cultural heritage for individuals to choose what they consider most appropriate.
2.4 Cosmological Determinism: Fate
In the fourth century BC, Stoic philosophers believed that to understand how we should behave in the cosmos, we must understand its order. They adopted Heraclitus’s doctrine that everything happens for a reason. Since the series of reasons can be infinite, there must be a first reason, a law governing everything in the universe. For the Stoics, this universal law was destiny, and humans were powerless against it. The ideal way to gain wisdom was to acknowledge that while external happiness is in destiny’s hands, peace is within our reach if we become insensitive to suffering and opinions. Indifference is the only source of happiness. This marked the origin of the distinction between two worlds: the inner freedom that depends on us and the outside world that does not.