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The Forum > Article Comments > Ethically speaking ... > Comments

Ethically speaking ... : Comments

By Eric Claus, published 5/4/2006

University graduates need a good dose of free thinking and an understanding of ethics.

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Dying Cockroach ? good grief Mike.. have you sunk to new lows of ad hominem ? Yes, I realize it was aimed at Pericles, but I'm starting to compile a mental list

-Propellor head.
-Dying Cockroach.

At least you have not joined Irf's camp and begun slinging around the lazy "Armchair Nazi" slogan.

Your quote about Buddhist meditation and brain function, while providing some interesting scientific observation of neurological fact, does little to address my challenge of:

a) The authenticiy and reliability of Pauls letter
b) The eternal implications of its content(particularly Chapter 15 of First Corinthians.)

But I won't persue that further for now, I think I've provided sufficient information with which you can grapple in your private times.

But before I conclude this post, let me touch on the Buddhist experience. Buddhism has nothing to do with any concept of a 'greater being'. It has to do with 'detachment' and the attainment of a state called Nirvana, complete detachment from all passion, lust, selfishness etc and that which causes suffering and pain. Needless to say, that a person achieving such a state, would experience substantial cognitive resonance as opposed to dissonance, where their actions and attitudes are in full harmony.

But a problem I see in this, is that it constitutes a psyhological state which probably cannot exist apart from a state of deep meditation, rather than a functional member of the human race in the real day to day, blow by blow world.

Further, it is just a psychological state, not the outcome of a living relationship with a risen Christ.

Here endeth the lesson.

Have a wonderful day all who have contributed to this thread. I think it has run its course.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 6:53:58 AM
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Moved on, MikeM?

I call it "changing the subject because you cannot justify, when questioned, a single one of the positions you have chosen."

Ericc, you asked "How does one person become more ethical than another? When and how is it learned or is it learned at all? Is person born ethical or unethical?"

My suggestion is that ethical standards are predominantly communicated by parents to their offspring during the first dozen years of the child's life. Linkage between criminal behaviour and poor parenting is not hard to find, and while this has only a circumstantial connection with the broader topic of ethics, I believe it to be significant.

So one person will be more or less ethical than another due to their different upbringing. And yes, it is learned, but more in the sense of absorbed through behavioural observation and imitation than a formal "let's sit down and talk about ethics" process.

More often, the communication will be along the lines of "let's sit down and discuss your behaviour", where the need to do the right thing is illustrated, and enforced wherever possible. The lack of such guidance results in the lack of behavioural boundaries, which in turn leads to a low awareness and understanding of the need to behave in an ethical manner.

And no, I don't believe that one can be born unethical. One may be born with genetic traits that relate to intelligence, but cleverness has absolutely no influence on an individual's ethics. As many very clever people in business consistently demonstrate.

For similar reasons, I believe that the formal teaching of ethics in universities or elsewhere will have absolutely no impact on the ethical behaviour of individuals within a society.

Thanks Boaz and yes, I think it may be time to go before we get bored with the repetition.
Posted by Pericles, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 2:49:06 PM
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No Pericles,

I have moved on because of your repetitive mantra that "ethical standards are predominantly communicated by parents to their offspring during the first dozen years of the child's life."

Evidence? None. Inclination to explore the subject? Nil.

In the event that you have learned nothing after your first dozen years of life, it does not preclude the possibility that others have.

Clearly, if I can add to BOAZ's collection of ad hominisms, Pericles, your mind is as closed as a dunny door after a feed of crook prawns. Mind the emus don't kick it down.
Posted by MikeM, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 7:31:37 PM
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Well Mike.... you may not have convinced either me or Pericles about your view on ethics, but BOY OH BOY you have been entertaining..and educative.. that last one was awesome !

dunny door..prawns.. ROFL.

Did you examine 1 Corinthans ? 'prod'
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 7:40:56 PM
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yeh its been a good string...
Posted by meredith, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 8:12:00 PM
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Just a short reminder as I close the dunny door behind me, that I can make exactly the same claim - "Evidence? None. Inclination to explore the subject? Nil." of your contributions, MikeM.

Trawling for a couple of friendly quotes from the internet doth not an argument make, however many times you lather, rinse and repeat.

My evidence is all around you. Jails are full of kids whose blue-collar parents failed them miserably in their formative years. Those same jails are also filling up with an increasing number of white-collar graduates whose awareness of ethics - as contained in the HR-produced tomes of virtue-speak their companies produce by the bucketload - should be heightened by their superior intelligence. But somehow is not.

Your evidence is stuck in some wannabe-professor's notebook, waiting for the day when someone will pay for the trite, motherhood statements that will bore the fingernails off his students. Not once were you able to point to any information to support your view that teaching ethics at secondary and tertiary level is beneficial.

And the evidence you were able to cobble together - written exclusively by people with a strong vested interest in the proposition itself - was shoddy in the extreme.

But have a nice day anyway.
Posted by Pericles, Wednesday, 26 April 2006 10:14:12 AM
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