Which is more valuable …material things or the ethical life?
Of course, it is not a choice between one or the other: a person - whether very wealthy or very poor - can be highly ethical. Or both may exhibit, and/or exemplify, immorality.
In the U.S.A. we have made money into a god. When you ask someone how they’re doing, they primarily think in material terms; everything else is secondary. It is not money, or being rich, that’s the problem; it is the love of money - otherwise known as “greed” - that is the problem.
As you know, money has its benefits. Let’s enumerate some of them:
MONEY gets you all the food you can eat; a nice place to live; a new car every year; freedom, and (say if you buy a seat in Congress, or a media conglomerate, or a dictatorship) even power.
[When too much money flows into too few hands, resulting in an overly-wide gap between the upper and lower economic classes, there is an imbalance and the system tends to break down. Then freedom is restricted: most of the people then have fewer options.
Capitalism functions best when there is money in many hands; this enables the money to circulate making for vigorous economic activity. The wheels keep turning. But the old saying is true: the rich become richer, and the poor: they have children.]
ETHICS also offers benefits, although not everyone yet appreciates them, or strives for them.
What do I mean when I speak of ETHICS? I will list a few of its features and qualities: Decency, civility, a good character, a sense of responsibility, a disposition to kindness, integrity, cooperativeness, a capacity to focus on a project you enjoy, and to be creative, to, in that sense, have ‘a work ethic’; an attitude of gratitude; caring about a healthy life and a healthy world; a love of learning; an appreciation of beauty, truth, and goodness; a striving to add value, to be constructive; in other words, by being ethical you can get some enduring human relationships, some love, a high quality of life, a sense of well-being.
As I said, being ethical IS rewarding, but most people do not yet understand or appreciate that. They seem (morally) asleep or dead.
Conclusion: It is ignorance of the long-term benefits of being ethical that keeps us all from having a better world.
Many people will do anything for money. Why? Because they see immediate benefits.
My argument here is that being ethical is MORE VALUABLE for us than the pursuit of greed, or materialism for the sake of it.
Reason without emotion and emphasis is just not convincing …though perhaps it is not appropriate to arouse emotions at a Philosophy site.
Granted, a lot of people get rich because they were unethical. They did whatever they could get away with. You all know about such business practices and have probably experienced some in your life - in which you were the victim …I mean the customer, or the patient. Many, if not most, politicians can be “bought.”
Why do they pursue monetary gain or profit above everything?
It is because they are vividly aware of the benefits of money, but not enough aware of the downside of greed and how it corrupts.
However, keep in mind that as a species we are getting better, ethically-speaking. Until about 1800 human beings were a bunch of savages, primitive and ruthless. Slavery was universally present. We tore limbs off people, stretched them on a rack, burned heretics slowly to death on a stake, drowned women - charging them with being “witches.” [size=85]Some of these practices persist even today in Saudi Arabia where they will cut fingers off your hand if you happen to commit what they consider to be a transgression. Also in Myanmar (formerly Burma.) It’s not too pleasant to live in North Korea either. Keep in mind that three percent of the U.S. population are sociopaths, some of them highly-skilled, and may be prominent members of society. They have an inability to care or to empathize with the suffering of others. {One of them even became Vice President. I shall not mention any names.}[/size]
Do you forum members here at least agree that being ethical is better than the love of money for its own sake? Which habits will you attempt to form? Will you dispel ignorance about the principles of Ethics?
I’d like to hear what you think about all this. Comments? Suggestions?