Practical Morality with the subtitle: Or, a guide to men and manners. This is Jordan B. Peterson style moral advice for the youth back in 1848. It was written by Lord Chesterfield as advice to his son on how to behave in the world, and certainly on how not to behave. A large part of the book is amusing descriptions of bad behavior, bad habits, and sorry situations people will get entangled in when not knowing correct manners. Here is some from the chapter of the book on awkwardness:
When an awkward fellow first comes into a room, it is highly probable that his sword gets between his legs and throws him down, or makes him stumble at least; when he has recovered this accident, he goes and places himself in the very place of the whole room where he should not; there he soon lets his hat fall down, and in taking it up again, throws down his cane; in recovering his cane his hat falls the second time; so that he is a quarter of an hour before he is in order again. If he drinks tea or coffee, he certainly scalds his mouth and lets either the cup or the saucer fall and spills the tea or coffee in his breeches. At dinner his awkwardness distinguishes itself particularly, as he has more to do; there he holds his knife, fork, and spoon, differently from other people; eats with his knife to the great danger of his mouth, picks his teeth with his fork, and puts his spoon, which has been in his throat, twenty times, into the dishes again.
The book has a second part Maxims and Moral Reflections written by Duke De La Rochefoucault. This part is a collection of many short verses, such as:
Had we no faults ourselves, we should take less
pleasure in observing those of others.
Envy is destroyed by true friendship and coquetry
by true love.
Download the free PDF e-book here (291 pages/17MB):
Throughout the history of Western Culture, philosophers have always associated the good, the beautiful, and the true. These elements are known as transcendentals of philosophy. Furthermore, these transcendentals lead to associating beauty and morality.
This association has roots dating back to Ancient Greek philosophers such as Parmenides, Socrates(as recorded by Plato), and Aristotle. Running through Medieval philosophy, as seen in the influence of St. Thomas Aquinas, reflected in the aesthetic musings of Kant, and even influencing later philosophers.
In fact, four branches of Western philosophy have developed to explore these fields.
Ethicsexplores issues of the good, the moral, and the just.
Aestheticsexamines the meaning of the beautiful.
Epistemologyand logic dissect various aspects of the truth.
The pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides is considered the “Father of Metaphysics” for being the first Western philosopher to explore that which constitutes and coincides with being itself. His considerations laid the groundwork for the development of Western philosophy.
Socrates, and his disciple, Plato, held with the prevailing wisdom that happiness, beauty, was the telos of morality, the end to which all virtue was directed.
To live a virtuous life, a moral life, was to attain the highest state of well-being.
In his Symposium, Plato defines beauty in terms of the order. It is an objective principle external to both the object and the perceiver. Simply put, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder.
Similarly, morality itself, virtue-based ethics, is objective. It is based on objective notions of what is good and what is just. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates demonstrates that it is always in one’s best interest to be just. Therefore, by extension, also striving to live the life of beauty.
Aristotle, while breaking with Platonic thoughts on many fronts, maintained the connection between beauty and morality.
The golden ratio is one of the expressions where math meets beauty and philosophy.
His famous “golden mean” or “golden ratio” is applied to understandings of both beauty and morality. Both his Eudemian and Nichomachean Ethics speak of virtues as being lived in balance. An excess or deficiency of an otherwise virtuous behavior becomes a vice. An excess of courage, for example, is foolhardiness, whereas a deficiency of courage is cowardice.
Similarly, beauty is considered a physical manifestation of this golden mean. A beautiful object is an object in which all of its proportions are mathematically symmetrical. Thus, beauty and morality are measured by the same standard, albeit in different ways.
Influence of Plato and Aristotle to the concept of morality and beauty
The influences of both Plato and Aristotle continued to be felt throughout the Middle Ages. Beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire, and continuing through to the dawn of the Renaissance.
Throughout this period, the Roman Catholic Church dominated philosophical thought.
One of the most notable philosophers of this period was St. Thomas Aquinas. In his Magnus opus, the Summa Theologica, Aquinas describes beauty as “that which gives pleasure when seen.” Therefore, according to his thinking, beauty serves as a function of cognition, as it takes discernment to recognize what does or does not give pleasure.
The function of moral discernment is similar to the function of aesthetic discernment, in this view. Aquinas builds his definitions on Aristotelian grounds, although he puts a distinctly Christian spin on his exploration of morality vis-a-vis sin.
Kant solidified the connection between beauty and judgment
During the Age of Enlightenment, German philosopher Immanuel Kant further solidified the connection between beauty and moral judgment in his 1790 Critique of Judgement. Aesthetics is again linked with teleology.
Beauty is considered in terms of absolute standards, although it is separated from cognitive judgments that seek to ascribe moral valence to even a beautiful object. Similarly, in his 1785 Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant had previously established morality as being determined in absolute terms. It is clear to those who study Kant’s works that his absolutist methodology links both beauty and morality in a de facto association.
Modern-day phenomenologists, notably the “Father of Hermenuetics” Hans-Georg Gadamer, have continued to draw associations between beauty and morality in their works. The association of all that is moral, beautiful, and true, continues to be held as a standard for what it means to live a “good life.”
So, as a conclusion, we can see that morality and beauty have been going hand-in-hand since ancient Greek times. As a result, association so deeply entrenched in our philosophy that it continues to be revisited at every period of our philosophical development.
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted something but you weren’t comfortable with what you were about to do to get it? That could be a moral dilemma.
More often than not, when faced with a moral dilemma, we choose the easy way out. We know that the easy way will likely be to the detriment of someone else, but we still do it to serve our personal interests.
Other times, we choose to do the right thing because we can’t bear the burden of breaching our morals. Or simply because we believe we’ll get caught in the immoral act.
But where do these morals that hold us hostage come from and are they good for society? Morals are in most cases instilled within us by society, family, media, religion and other elements within our environment as we grow.
As we get older, our morals expand and evolve as our own conscious mind rationalizes and suggests to us what morals we should choose to follow or ignore.
Interestingly, what counts as generally accepted morals in one society will likely differ in another society. But regardless of what morals are generally accepted in your society, do those morals and their associated ethical dilemmas actually make your society a better place?
Many say yes, and we agree and here’s why.
Without Morals We are Nothing More than Animals
Many believe what separates from animals are higher brain function and opposable thumbs.
But morals are what truly separates us from beasts.Without morals, we’d live in a society where activities such as the powerful exploiting the weak and inbreeding like animals would be commonplace.
Thanks to morals, we can identify what is right from wrong and can then use our intelligence and willpower to choose to do the right thing for the sake of the sanctity of our society. It is because of morals we embrace concepts such as equal rights and respect for other life.
If everyone at the same time were to suddenly throw their morals out the window and act strictly on their baser instincts, the world would surely devolve into chaos.
Morals Help Us Evolve
When faced with a moral dilemma and the best course of action seems to be the wrong one, we are forced to think outside the box and come up with new solutions to the quandary.
Facing moral dilemmas activates our creativity as a society and helps us take our humanity to a new level to achieve better and greater things.
Moral dilemmas actually lessen stress
In a society where morals are an afterthought, the innocent tend to be stressed. This is because they live in constant fear that they will be exploited. But when a society is guided by sane morals, everyone can live in peace and happiness.
Sticking with morals also takes the burden off individuals who are forced to make unethical decisions that they are uncomfortable with. With ethical rationale to back up their choice to do what they believe is right, they can go about their business with a lighter heart.
So do moral dilemmas help society?
Yes.
How?
By keeping society sane and safe.
The moral dilemma in society is what grooms us to be reasonable, law-abiding and responsible people. Never underestimate the influence of morals, especially during our formative years. Without moral dilemmas to guide our actions, we’d be nothing but savages psychologically, financially, physically, and emotionally preying on one another.
That is not a society you or your child would want to live in.
A Society rarely survives without some formed code of conduct. Thus it cannot exist without law, whether it is natural law or human law. From the very ancient period of human evolution, there is certain practice going on of law.
Since then the law has referred to be a needed term in society.
So can a society exist without laws?
In order to understand this concept, first, we need to understand what society is and what law is, and in which case law is essential.
Definition of Society
According to the definition of society by many philosophers, in short, society is an association or organization of individuals cooperate and behaving with one another and lives in the same place with the same genre of interest and lives under certain laws.
It is an organized group which is controlled by some strict norms and law.
What is Law Actually?
On the other side, if we simply look at the term “law”, we shall find the law is some code of control which governs our life and ascertain what individual can do and what they cannot. According to experts, Law is kind of a set of rules that are regulated by law enforcement or agency.
There are two types of law, one is a natural law and another is human law.
Natural lawformed naturally in us. It built on human nature which is formed by virtue.
Human lawis more of man-made law. It is formed by law enforcement and force society to follow them.
First and foremost, the most important law we follow is natural law. Although we weren’t born with these, these are formed throughout our life. Our environment, surroundings, culture, relatives play a vital role in it.
These things help us to build our character, our conscience. There goes a saying, conscience is the highest court anyone can face. Because you may flee from any law enforcement agency, but you cannot ever flee from yourself. That staggering pain of thought for breaking the law of conscience will follow you everywhere.
That’s why these laws are so much hard to break.
Importance of Natural Law
Natural law or moral law is established upon human nature. It is an instinct which shows us what we should do and what we shouldn’t. It is natural law by which we can understand the effect of doing a bad thing, and it makes us understand being punished if we do something wrong.
Thus this law can stop our inner spirit from doing any bad thing, and inspire us to accomplish some good. Natural law helps us to build trust, love, and affection towards people and not to hurt them.
The natural law of us can help to preserve humanity thus it brings peace which is very important.
It is as important for society as the heart is important to live.
Natural laws depend on the upbringing and the environment, and everyone’s law of conscience is different. For example, homicide might not be considered a bad thing for some, which we see among serial killers.
But a standardized law system is needed for a society to function properly. It cannot operate with the variability of natural law.
This is the place man-made laws come in.
Importance of Human Law
Human law is a kind of law that is regulated and conduct by a human. To avoid chaos and form a better society there is certain law enforcementto create some law. There is some common law established and abide by people throughout the world. With such law, people can settle under some obligation of rules and norms which they must obey.
Man-made laws are the set of rules which are standardized and recognized by a nation’s policymakers keeping in the thought of the culture, literature, religion, and lifestyle of the citizens.
These laws are also very much needed, as these serve as the standard of building the conscience of the citizens. Also, fundamental rights and safety can be ensured for citizens abiding by these laws.
The society can punish anyone breaking the law, to set an example and also giving the person a chance to set things right. It is important to establish human laws for every society and every community.
The law can strictly maintain human rights and control the violation with a hard hand.
A society cannot live alone; it must contain people of different ages and types. And when diversity exists, chaos can certainly take place. If no law is formed in society, different kinds of social problems like slavery, hierarchy rules, partition, and domination will be raised.
No human rights and no basic needs will be preserved if no law has existed.
In order to live a peaceful and undisturbed life without any mess, we must have a constraint to honor the law. It may lead us to do what is require and avoid confusion which can give us a well-regulated and more disciplined society.
So a well-balanced society cannot exist without law!
If you would like to dig deeper into the philosophy about the construct of modern societies we recommend studying the Frankfurter Schools works. Especially Karl Mannheim has some excellent analysis. His books are freely available since they are now in the Public Domain. You can download them here: https://holybooks.com/the-frankfurt-school-writings-selected-works-by-karl-mannheim/
Shaping Your Moral Pathway – Books and blogs about morality and ethics
