Understanding Ethics, Freedom, and Responsibility
What is Ethics?
Ethics is the study of moral action, the action of the human relationship in order to achieve one’s own good, and failing that, of evil. To know the proper good of a person, one must know what a person is. Depending on the doctrine of a person, so shall ethics be. Once the nature of man is known, what is said to be ethical is good for him and for others, and what goes against the asset itself. There is no ethics without a definition of good and evil. There is also no ethics without freedom. Man’s own good is not necessarily true: it has to be chosen by free will.
Ethical Minimum and the Golden Rule
- 1st, ethics presupposes freedom and responsibility. Humans do actions that may be indifferent, good, or bad. In that sense, it is said that each person is the daughter of their actions.
- 2nd, in many cultures and throughout history, the truth of this general provision has been agreed upon, the so-called Golden Rule: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.” Confucius, who lived 500 BC, contains the same doctrine, as does Christ. The application of this rule makes the wickedness ethical of lying, stealing, cheating, assault, rape, and murder. Perhaps in certain circumstances, the person is not entirely clear about what evil is to others, but all are perfectly aware of the evil that is done to them. It is difficult not to know what is right and wrong: when one is a victim, one knows completely.
Freedom and Responsibility
What is Freedom?
Many have defended the freedom of a person throughout history. Freedom, in its social dimension, translates into freedom, essential for a full life: conscience, information, education, assembly, transfer, etc. In a sense, the dictionary says that being free is the natural faculty that a man has to work in one way or another, and not to act, which is why he is responsible for his actions. Free will is a distinctive feature of being human. Animals are programmed; animals are born.
Fundamental Freedom
The human being is a constitutively free being, equal to being intelligent, and possesses a dignity that makes him an end in himself. It is not that being human is released, but that being human is free. It is the fundamental freedom and inner freedom. Inner freedom is the basis of human rights.
Positive and Negative Liberty
- 1 – “Do what you want.” This is directed to the interiority of the subject. It is the ability to decide between the different possibilities offered in a specific situation. This ability to decide is not determined by anything. This kind of freedom is positive. It is also defined with the name of free will.
- 2 – “That they do not prevent me from doing what I want.” This addresses the externality of the subject. It consists in the absence of external impediments that hinder the action. This kind of freedom is negative. It is also defined as freedom of action.
Ethics, Freedom, and Responsibility
Ethical principles are the object of the choice of freedom. Without freedom, there is no ethics. And the ethics of freedom is also the ethics of responsibility. If we are free, we are the owners of our actions; we must respond to them and their consequences. We do not use the responsibility of others: what goes around comes around. Nor is it reasonable to doubt one’s own responsibility, which often takes courage not to hide in anonymity, and this is a sign of maturity.