What is ethics and how can it help a modern person. Ethics helps a person to independently perform virtuous things. What ethics considers

"Fundamentals of secular ethics" - Predicted results. On the screen - the theme of the event "Where the Motherland begins." Puzzles "My small homeland". Poster for reflection "Mood Tree". On the walls are posters with proverbs and children's drawings. Lesson outline. Lesson plan. Where does the Motherland begin? As a result, the products of students' project activities will be determined.

"Ethics of business communication" - Therefore, there must be a goal. Established procedure for the exchange of information. So: your age is from fourteen to ... years. Through the written word. What is ethics business communication? Ethics of business communication. Do you study or work. And if you don't know where you're going, what's the point of going? Information. Rule #1 See the target.

"Moral duty" - Communicative Social. Remember everything that was said in the lesson. Duty does not roar, but honor from a young age. 1.- Continue the phrases: "The general condemnation of others causes ...". During the classes. Moral duty Moral duty. Purpose: to form an idea of ​​moral duty. What will you tell family members about moral duty and moral obligations?

"Ethics of business relations" - Andreev V.I. business game. – Kazan: Kazan University Press, 1993. ABC business etiquette. Shelamova G.M. business culture and psychology of communication: Textbook. - M: Prof. Botavina R.N. Ethics business relations. - M: Case, 2001. Kabanov A.Ya. Ethics of business relations: textbook / Kabanov A.Ya., Zakharov D.K.; Ed.

"Ethics Lesson" - Using the plan, you can easily restore the content of any work in your memory. Sometimes people make mistakes and act badly, viciously. "Fundamentals of World Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics" B. Bloom's Classification: Read the next paragraph. Thought is not expressed, but is accomplished in the word. (Vygotsky L. S. Thinking and speech).

"Fundamentals of Ethics" - "The Nuremberg Code" (1947). Nikolai Nikolaevich Petrov. Hippocrates II the Great of Kos. Van Ronnseller Potter. I. Kant. ethical nihilism. Growth of the environmental movement. Corpus Hippocrates "On decent behavior", "Law", "On the doctor", "Instructions", "On art",

There are 15 presentations in total in the topic

Lecture plan:

1. How did ethics appear?

1. How did ethics appear?

Before designating subject area ethics, consider its origin.

Ethics arises together with philosophy and is its section. Philosophy as a branch of culture originated in Ancient Greece. This was facilitated by the fact that in Ancient Greece there was a tradition of free discussions, the ability to argue, which developed in the era of democracy, when all free citizens of ancient Greek cities gathered in the main square and discussed their affairs together, listening to everyone and making decisions by majority vote.

Of course, people have been able to think since the acquisition of the mind (ie, millions of years ago). But as a discipline with a certain system of concepts, philosophy was born in the middle of the first millennium BC. Philosophy as a discipline begins where a person theoretically separates himself from the surrounding world and begins to reason about abstract concepts.

In ancient Greece, philosophy began to be divided into three main parts: logic, metaphysics and ethics. As part of philosophy, ethics also seeks to form concepts, but not about the whole world, but about the most general forms of human behavior. The subject of ethics is the study of people's actions in order to identify patterns of behavior. At the same time, ethics appears as the art of living right, trying to answer the questions: what is happiness, what is good and evil, why one should act this way and not otherwise, and what are the motives and goals of people's actions.

Also, ethics is not only integral part philosophy, but, in fact, the framework of culture. At all historical stages of cultural development ethical standards expressed its main content, and the separation of culture from ethics was always accompanied by its decline.

2. Content of terms: ethics, morality, morality

The term "ethics" comes from the ancient Greek word "ethos" (ethos). Initially, “ethos” was understood as a place of residence, a house, a dwelling. Subsequently, it began to denote the stable nature of a phenomenon, custom, disposition, character.

Starting from the word "ethos" in the meaning of character, Aristotle formed the adjective "ethical" in order to designate a special class of human qualities, which he called ethical virtues. Ethical virtues are properties of the character, temperament of a person, they are also called spiritual qualities. To denote the totality of ethical virtues and to highlight knowledge about them as a special science, Aristotle introduced the term "ethics".

For the exact translation of the Aristotelian concept of "ethical" from Greek into Latin, Cicero constructed the term "moralis" (moral). He formed it from the word "mos" - the Latin analogue of the Greek "ethos", meaning character, temperament, customs.

Cicero, in particular, spoke of moral philosophy, understanding by it the same field of knowledge that Aristotle called ethics. In the IV century AD. in Latin, the term "moralitas" (morality) appears as an analogue of the Greek term "ethics".

Both of these words, one of Greek, the other of Latin origin, are included in the new European languages. Along with them, a number of languages ​​have their own words, denoting the same as the terms "ethics" and "morality". In Russian, this is “morality”.

In original meaning ethics, morality, morality mean the same thing. Over time, the situation changes, and different meanings begin to be assigned to different words: Ethics mainly means the corresponding branch of knowledge, science, and morality (morality) is the subject studied by it.

We can give the following definition of ethics.

Ethics- this is a special humanitarian doctrine (science), the subject of which is morality, and the central problem is Good and Evil.

The purpose of ethics is to create an optimal model of humane and fair relations that ensure high quality of communication.

The main issue of ethics: the definition of what good behavior is, what makes behavior right or wrong.

Therefore, in the simplest formulation: morality and morality are the ideas of society and the individual about good and evil, about how to act well and how badly.

Is it possible to give a single scientific definition of morality?

This question has been the starting point in ethics throughout the history of this science. Different schools and thinkers give different answers to it. There is no single, indisputable definition of morality. And this is not at all accidental. Morality is not just what is. Rather, she is what she should be. And for different peoples, and even for the same people at different times, this “should be” differs significantly. For example, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” of Moses is eventually replaced by “if you are struck on the right cheek, turn the left” of Christ.

In modern society, there are two approaches to understanding the terms morality and morality. In the first case, they mean the same thing, in the second, morality refers to society, and morality to the individual.

In accordance with the division into morality and morality in ethics, two directions can be distinguished: social ethics, which studies the foundations and development of morality in society, and individual ethics, which is more interested in the sources of internal moral feeling.

At the same time, the ideas of a person may not coincide with the ideas of society. So, a person possessed by passions can ignore the prohibitions and regulations adopted in society. And vice versa, what is acceptable in society may cause rejection in a highly moral person (for example, drinking alcohol, smoking, hunting animals, etc.).

Thus, ethics is the sphere of objective representations of science; morality is the sphere of social prescriptions, customs; morality is the sphere of internal attitudes that have passed through the internal regulator - the conscience of a person. However, we can use the words moral and moral in the same meaning, for example: "moral act" and "moral act"; "moral rule" and "moral rule".

And although there is still no single formulation of the concept of "morality", in a generalized form, we can give such a brief and capacious formulation:

"Morality (morality) is a set of norms, values, ideals, attitudes that regulate human behavior and are the most important components of culture."

Why is it so important to be moral? The answer is simple. Imagine two people with the same amount of knowledge, the same intelligence and the same level of wealth. Where will they use their values: for good or evil deeds? Only the one of the two who is moral will direct everything he has acquired for good purposes. And the higher his level of morality, the higher goals he will dedicate not only his wealth, but also his life.

3. Morality from the Divine point of view.

Everything that we talked about above about morality refers to the sphere of views of the human community and its individual representatives. But there is a higher point of view on morality - Divine morality. What is it?

God created our world according to His Laws. AND people, as Divine creatures, must follow these Laws, voluntarily submit to the Divine Plan. This means that the closer a person's internal attitudes are to the Divine Commandments, the more moral a person is. Following the Divine Laws leads humanity along the evolutionary path, non-following them - throws it on the sidelines of the evolutionary stream, and then such "disobedient material" is subject to processing.

Can we say that humanity purposefully and strivingly evolves, following the laws of its Creator? The moral situation that has now developed in society makes us deeply doubt this.

To rectify the situation and help humanity, God has constantly sent and continues to send His Helpers into the world. At all times, this highest Morality was brought to Earth by the prophets and messengers of God in the form of Commandments and Covenants. Over time, these Commandments took shape in religion and philosophical teachings. Fulfilling the Divine Precepts, humanity gradually evolved, improving itself both individually and creating traditions that improved the human community as a whole.

In the next topic, we will take a historical digression and consider the moral covenants in the religions and teachings of the world. We will discover their unity and trace their development.

A series of lectures on ethics was prepared by E.Yu. Ilyin

Questions for consolidation:

1. How did the terms "ethics" and "morality" originate?

2. What general definition can be given to morality?

3. What do you think is the highest morality?

Many are interested what is ethics and how can she help modern man, since not many people follow the laws and rules of ethics studied in school. Many do not even remember all the rules of ethics, since it was taught at school in a theoretical way, without practical examples. Ethics should be learned by every person from a child to an elderly person in a practical way. Children should not be forced to learn terms that do not make sense and do not apply in practice.

In this article, you will find out what is ethics and how it can help a modern person, since it is the ethics of the way to teach people the right behavior and communication with each other. Our selfishness has reached the peak of development, as today people often communicate because of benefits.

Ethicsis a science and a subject that studies the correct behavior of a person, manner of communication and good habits. Without learning ethics in a practical way, people become uneducated, even if they had good grades in these subjects. Everyone needs ethics, but not as a scientific guide, but as a real instruction on how to behave and communicate correctly.

Ethics of business communication - ethics of business relations

Also exists business ethics, business ethics, which tells how to properly communicate with other people. The most important thing is to learn to listen carefully, listen to the interlocutor and keep up the conversation. When you maintain communication, you will be respected and trusted. If you interrupt and start talking a lot and listening little, you don't get anything and you don't develop. The fastest and best source information is communication.

Ethics and aesthetics - ethics of communication

The most important thing is to study ethics and immediately apply its knowledge in practice. So you quickly learn the material and learn how to live correctly and gain self-confidence. Since it is those people who live correctly, know how to communicate and behave, become confident, sociable and successful people.

psycho- olog. ru

"ORKSE "Secular Ethics"" - Virtue and vice. What is etiquette. Values. Features of morality. Friendship. The golden rule of morality. Moral duty. Russia is our motherland. patterns of morality. Justice. Altruism and selfishness. Freedom and moral choice. Conscience. Shame, guilt and apology. Genus and family. Family holidays. Culture and morality.

"Ethical morality" - Topic 2 Ethics of commodity research activities. The concept of ethics. Highest moral values. ethical culture. The concept of morality. The task of ethics. The purpose of ethics. Moral norms. Translated from the Greek "ethics" means custom, temper. Features of morality. Ethical culture of service.

"Course of Ethics" - Subject. Moral history. Ethics political activity. Key concepts. Knowledge requirements. Structure. Political ethics. humanistic ethics. Ethics. Educational material. Presentation materials for the course "Ethics". The doctrine of the moral norms of society. Tasks for self-examination. Fundamentals of humanistic ethics.

"Ethics in school" - Morality. Expected results. moral education. Pedagogical directions of educational influence. Appeal of the teacher to knowledge. Pedagogical principles of ethical education. educational potential. Secular ethics course. ethical lesson. Partnership interaction. Age features of younger adolescents.

"Ethics" - The expectation of a particular role. Organizational ethics. EXPECTATIONSExpectations. Socio-cultural factors. What should be the employee, the leader? Improve. Subject. Formation of moral competence. ethical infrastructure. Three meanings of the concept of "ethics": As an individual, as a person is subjective. Ethics of care.

"Secular Ethics" - What values ​​underlie the traditions of your family? Ask your parents for advice and name a few traditions adopted in your family. Most people are honest, hardworking, caring, able to love and make friends. Preparing to talk with family members. b) How does a person develop? Culture is the level of development of society, the creative forces and abilities of a person.

There are 15 presentations in total in the topic

Ethics- the oldest theoretical discipline that emerged as an integral part of philosophy, the object of study of which is the phenomenon of morality. The spiritual source of philosophy and ethics is mythology (pre-philosophy), within which the comprehension of moral problems occurs at the level of everyday consciousness.

With the formation of philosophical knowledge, the origin of which takes place in the era of the formation of a class society and the division of material and spiritual labor, within its framework, there is a selection of issues related to moral issues (primarily questions about a person’s place in this world and the meaning of his being), which subsequently became object of study of science, called "ethics". The first philosophical teachings contain the germ of ethical thought (Heraclitus, Thales, Democritus, etc.). As a science, ethics arises in the 4th century BC, the founder of which is Aristotle, who created the first ethical work "Ethics to Nicomachus", which is a systematization of ethical knowledge. Aristotle gave a name to this science.

The subject and features of ethics as a science. The subject of ethics as a science is to clarify the origin, essence and specifics of morality, the patterns of its historical development, the analysis of ethical systems and the study of applied problems of ethics (professional ethics, ethics of family and marriage relations, ethics of communication, etiquette culture, etc.). Ethics as a science has its own characteristics associated with the specifics of the object studied by it - morality. These features are:

1) the empirical nature of ethics: it is associated with the need to describe by it real moral relations (existing mores).

2) the theoretical nature of ethics: associated with the task of clarifying the issues of the origin, essence and specifics of morality.

3) normativity of ethics: connected with the fact that, explaining morality, raising ordinary moral consciousness to more high level generalizations, systematizing everyday knowledge about morality, ethics acts as an element of morality itself, performs a value-orienting function, thereby answering questions about how a person should act.

Classification of the main directions of ethics:

Possible various options classification of directions of ethics. One of the main classification criteria is understanding the essence of morality, its source. From this point of view, three main directions can be outlined in the history of ethics:

1) naturalistic, in which the essence of morality, its ideals, as well as the moral qualities of the individual are explained by the universal laws of nature as a whole, the cosmos (cosmocentrism) or the laws of the natural (biopsychic) ​​nature of man (anthropocentrism);

2) socio-historical, deriving the content of moral relations and imperatives from the laws of the historical development of society;

3) idealistic, interpreting morality as a manifestation, implementation in the human community of any spirituality:

Divine (religious-idealistic ethics);

An objective spiritual principle, i.e. ideas, concepts of spiritual culture (objective-idealistic ethics);

Subjective spirit, spiritual creativity of the subject (subjective-idealistic ethics).

The main functions of ethics:

1) cognitive function - teaches people to see the actions of other individuals in terms of moral values.

2) Methodological function- under the method itself general view is understood as such knowledge and the system of actions based on it, with the help of which new knowledge can be obtained.

3) value orientation- morality allows you to highlight certain guidelines for each individual. This function does not carry any practical value, however, gives a person ideas about his purpose and meaning of life. It is likely that the individual will not think about this on a daily basis, but in a difficult time, the thought “why do I live?” And the value-oriented function allows you to find the answer to the question.

4) Normative evaluation function- evaluates the development of reality by a person from the position of good and evil.

5) Socio-practical function– morality harmonizes and optimizes relations between people based on common ideals, principles of behavior, etc. with the help of a value approach to human activity.

In general, all these functions are closely interconnected and determine the richness and richness of a person's spiritual life.

The unity of human existence is manifested in the close connection between the various forms of social consciousness that reflect it - morality, art, politics, religion, etc.

Topic 2 Ethics and morals

Ethics is a philosophical science, the subject of which is morality and morality. This is the doctrine of the essence of morality, its structure, functions, laws, its historical development and roles in public life. The term "ethics" is used in the sense of a system of norms of moral behavior of a person, a social or professional group, and as a way of evaluating human actions (approval, condemnation). Ethics gives an answer to the question of how to live correctly. Ethics plays a role social regulator in the behavior and relationships between people. Ethics tries to show a person a general direction in life.

Morality- this is a specific way of spiritual and practical development of the world, which implies a special value-imperative attitude towards it. Morality is the individual and social forms of human relations based on the distinction between good and evil. Morality, as a subject of study of ethics, manifests itself in specific human relationships. The essence of morality is to ensure a balance of personal and public good, regulating and ordering the behavior of people in a team.

Moral- internal, spiritual qualities that guide a person; ethical norms, rules of conduct determined by these qualities. IN this definition it comes down to certain spiritual qualities of a person, as well as to certain internal norms and principles of behavior. But does not cover everything as a moral. Morality, as a rule, is focused on an external evaluating subject (other people, society, church, etc.). Morality is more focused on the inner world of a person and his own beliefs. Morality is a value structure of consciousness, a way of regulating human actions in all spheres of life, including work, life and attitude towards the environment.

Etymologically, the terms "ethics", "morality" and "morality" arose in different languages ​​and at different times, but they mean a single concept - "temper", "custom". In the course of the use of these terms, the word "ethics" began to designate the science of morality and morality, and the words "morality" and "morality" began to designate the subject of study of ethics as a science. In ordinary usage, these three words can be used as identical. For example, they talk about the ethics of a teacher, meaning his morality, that is, the fulfillment by him of certain moral requirements and norms. Instead of the expression "moral norms" the expression "ethical norms" is used.

In the very general plan V modern ethics It is customary to distinguish between theoretical and applied parts. The theoretical area of ​​ethical knowledge combines all issues related to the analysis of the essence, the specifics of the functions of morality, its genesis, role and significance in society. Applied ethics took shape in the last third of the 20th century. The beginning was laid by "bioethics", which took shape as a desire to provide people with decent living conditions. In 1988, one of the first books, Applied Ethics and ethical theory". The purpose and objectives of the articles in the collection were to explore the ethical issues raised by modern technological progress.

Applied ethics is understood as a section, a direction in which generally significant problems are considered, manifested in certain areas social practice. Applied ethics studies moral aspects, value content public relations in which the person is included in the process specific type activity, its sociocultural conditions. In Western ethical thought, applied ethics is viewed ambiguously. Some (P. Singer) consider it as a substantive part of moral philosophy. Others see it as an application of classical normative ethical theories to practical moral problems.

According to the level of generalization of the totality of ethical knowledge, it is customary to distinguish:

1) descriptive ethics, which describes the history of ethical teachings, the genesis and evolution of morality;

2) metaethics (philosophy of morality), which explores the essence of morality, its basic principles and categories, structure, functions and patterns of manifestation through a formal logical analysis of the language of morality;

3) normative ethics, within which the substantiation of moral principles and norms takes place, which act as a theoretical development and addition to the moral consciousness of society and the individual;

4) applied ethics, designed to develop common approaches to the implementation of moral norms and principles in social practice.

Applied ethics includes many areas of application: management ethics, business ethics, business ethics, professional ethics. Traditionally, ethics is understood as a theoretical, philosophical science about morality, morality (O. G. Drobnitsky, V. G. Ivanov), about human virtues (Aristotle), as axiology - the doctrine of the meaning and values ​​of life (N. A. Berdyaev), as a set of norms, principles, ideals, values ​​realized in the moral experience of the subject (A. A. Guseinov), as a system of universal and specific moral requirements and norms of behavior that regulate social life(A. Ya. Kibanov). For many centuries, ethics has been formed into a scientifically based system of concepts, categories, laws, and has become a philosophy of understanding the moral life of society.

Ethics authoritarian and humanistic. authoritarian ethics can be distinguished from humanistic by two criteria - formal and material. Formally, authoritarian ethics denies a person's ability to know what is good and what is bad; here the norm is always set by an authority above the individual. Such a system is based not on reason and knowledge, but on reverent fear of authority and a subjective feeling of weakness and dependence; on the refusal of decisions, giving authority the right to make them, guided by its magical power; its decisions cannot and should not be questioned. Materially, or in terms of content, authoritarian ethics answers the question of what is good and what is bad, proceeding primarily from the interests of authority, and not the interests of the subject; it is exploitative, although the subject may derive significant mental or material benefits from it.

humanistic ethics, although it is the opposite of authoritarian, can also be characterized by formal and material criteria. Formally, it is based on the principle that only man himself can determine the criterion of virtue and sin, and not the authority transcendent to him. Materially, it is based on the principle that “good” is what is good for a person, and “evil” is what harms a person; the only criterion for ethical evaluation is the well-being of the individual.

Topic 3. Ethical thought of the ancient world

Ethical views ancient india. The middle of the 1st millennium BC is the time of the emergence of the ethical and philosophical worldview in Ancient India, the content of which was influenced by a number of sociocultural factors:

1) the caste-caste structure of ancient Indian society (the main castes are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras);

2) the continuity of the cultural tradition, which contributed to the strong mythological coloring and religious-idealistic orientation of the ethical and philosophical knowledge of Ancient India, the main ideas of which were formed under the strong influence of the main source of knowledge of the religion of Brahmanism ("Vedas").

"Vedas" - a collection of religious texts, consisting of four parts, the main of which is the Rig Veda. The idea of ​​an impersonal universal force, subordinating human life to a higher spiritual principle, contained in the texts of the Rig Veda, becomes dominant in all philosophical reflections of Ancient India. On the basis of the Vedas, commentary literature arose a little later (Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads), the authors of which, trying to decipher complex symbolic texts, created the basis for philosophical interpretation and programmed further development ancient Indian philosophy.

The main ethical and philosophical thoughts were outlined in the Upanishads, the main ideas of which boiled down to the following: the world (man, nature, cosmos) is ruled by a single spiritual principle (law), the knowledge of which is available to man as a special being with spirituality. The meaning of human life lies in the knowledge of the highest spiritual law, which can be comprehended by renouncing maya, i.e. liberated as much as possible from the influence of physicality, having risen above the material world with the aim of spiritual perfection. Therefore, the goal of a person is to stop rebirth, to be free from suffering (this can be achieved by getting rid of dependence on one's body, which requires pleasure, wealth, etc.) and gaining the state of nirvana (internal freedom from the outside world).

The value of the Upanishads is great, because they program the further development of the philosophical thought of ancient India, the main directions of which can be divided into orthodox ("astika"), i.e. guided by the authority of the Vedas and unorthodox ("nastika"), i.e. criticizing the main provisions of the Vedic literature.

Yoga- an unorthodox direction, the ideas of which are based on practical application certain provisions of the Upanishads by developing a system of psycho-physiological exercises, the development of which contributes to the comprehension of the state of nirvana. This is an eight-step system of separating the body from the soul, which helps to free the mind from false ideas. The eightfold means of yoga are divided into external and internal. The external ones are:

1) abstinence, self-restraint, the ability to be content with little, overcoming all vicious aspirations, etc.;

2) observance of hygiene rules (clean body and food) and the development of good feelings (friendliness, etc.);

3) discipline of the body (asana) - the ability to keep one's body immobile for a long time;

4) breathing discipline (pranayama) - the ability to hold your breath;

5) discipline of feelings - the ability to control your feelings with the help of the mind.

Internal steps:

6) discipline of attention - the ability to focus for a long time on one specific object (hard to distinguish from the background);

7) discipline of reflection - the ability to mentally contemplate an object for a long time;

8) deep concentration, in which there is a separation of the spiritual from the bodily (nirvana). The unorthodox direction is represented by such schools as Buddhism and Jainism.

Buddhism- an unorthodox philosophical trend, the founder of which is considered to be Prince Gautama (later Buddha - "enlightened"), who at one time formulated four truths that form the basis of Buddhist teachings:

1) life is full of suffering;

2) the cause of suffering is the thirst for the fullness of life;

3) you can stop suffering by reaching the state of nirvana;

4) there is a path leading to this goal ("the eightfold path of salvation"), which consists in mastering the eight steps of moral perfection. The Eightfold Path is a kind of spiritual cleansing program that includes:

1) correct views, involving deep understanding and knowledge of the four truths;

2) renunciation of attachment to the world, bad intentions, enmity towards people;

3) refraining from lies, slander, cruel words, frivolous conversations;

4) refusal to destroy the living;

5) honest work;

6) eradication of bad thoughts;

7) non-deification of everything unworthy;

8) the state of perfect wisdom (nirvana).

Jainism- an unorthodox doctrine that was in opposition to traditional Brahmanism. The founder of Jainism is Vardhamana, whom his followers called Mahavira ("great hero") or Jina ("winner"). Jainism claims that the world is material, not created by anyone, therefore it is eternal and infinite in space (in Jainism, as well as in Buddhism, there is no idea of ​​God as the creator of the world). All beings of the world are endowed with a soul, and the differences between them are in the "quantitative ratio" of soul and matter. The human soul, weighed down by matter, is drawn into the cycle of samsara, being a source of suffering.

The goal of Jainism is the liberation of the soul from any dependence on the material world, the implementation of which is determined by the "three jewels": "correct faith" (in the teacher's truth), "correct knowledge" (insight into the essence of his teaching), "correct behavior" (its implementation in perfection is available only to monks). " Proper Behavior"concluded in the fulfillment of the" five great vows ":

1) non-damage to any life ("ahinsa"), which is based on the idea of ​​the universal soul of the world, which prohibits "harming the soul" (as a result of this, in Jainism there is a ban on farming, fishing, hunting, etc.);

2) refraining from lying (lying is a kind of harm to life);

3) refusal to steal;

4) refraining from self-indulgence (renunciation of marriage, of any carnal and spiritual pleasures, of owning property);

5) abstinence from all attachments to the world (this is physical and spiritual asceticism brought to the point of absurdity, which required the use of various methods of mortification of the flesh, which amounted to prolonged fasting, testing by heat, a vow of silence, etc.).

Ethical Views of Ancient China. The period from the 6th to the 3rd century. BC. is the heyday of ethical and philosophical knowledge in ancient China, coinciding with the reign of the Zhou dynasty (XI-III centuries BC).

The existence of an administrative political system and the need for its rational structure contributed to the politicization of ancient Chinese philosophical thought (philosophy was subordinated to political practice);

ritualism as one of characteristic features spiritual development ancient Chinese society had a noticeable impact on the ethical views of this country;

The revival of the cult of ancestors, the existence of the practice of divination contributed to the emergence of the "Book of Changes" ("I-ching"), the texts of which contributed to the formation of the conceptual apparatus of ancient Chinese philosophy.

Confucianism- an ancient Chinese philosophical school, the founder of which is Kung Fu-tzu (551-479 BC). The main concept of his teaching is the concept of "tao", borrowed from the "Book of Changes" and containing the meaning of life orientation of a person, to comprehend which Confucius used the concepts of "ren", "xiao" and "li". Following the principles of behavior embedded in these concepts helps a person to correspond to the "tao" as the "correct way of life."

"Ren" (in the translation of humanity, philanthropy) is a moral principle of behavior that determines the relationship between people in society and the family. Compliance with "jen" is the guidance in one's life of the "golden rule" of morality: "Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself."

"Li" is the principle of moral behavior, which is a manifestation of philanthropy and requires the indispensable restraint of oneself with the help of the rules of etiquette (ritual, ceremonies). demanded strict obedience to superiors on the social ladder.

Taoism- a philosophical doctrine that is essentially the antipode of Confucianism. The creator of Taoism is considered to be a semi-legendary person named Laozi (in translation meaning "old child"). "Tao" is primary in relation to a person, therefore he must lead a life in accordance with this natural law. The main principle of Taoist behavior is the principle of "wu - wei" ("non-action"), calling on a person to abandon vigorous activity directed against "naturalness", against a change in the natural order, dictating a person to improve the "tao" within himself, striving for selflessness, the ability to be content small.

Topic 4. Ethics of the Middle Ages

The ethics of the Middle Ages represented morality as an impersonal and transpersonal phenomenon. Moral requirements in it act as the commandments of God. Moral norms in this ethics are unconditional, absolute, and act as the only criterion for the moral significance of an individual's behavior. They are in principle hostility to earthly values: At the same time, Christianity gave a moral and aesthetic ideal to humanity in the form of a man-Christ, thereby giving a person a high lesson in morality.

Religious morality speaks of a universal community based on love for God, and is purely spiritual. Medieval ethical thinking is a denial of ancient moral philosophy. The idea of ​​God as a moral absolute sets rigid boundaries for the interpretation of all moral problems: human life and the values ​​of this life acquire meaning only in relation to divine legislation; God acts as an objective, unconditional, unique true source morality. The center of the Christian ethical concept is the idea of ​​love "to God. Love is understood as a universal principle of morality (the moral attitude towards one's neighbor stems from it); allows one to give morality a universal human status; sanctifies everything that exists. From the idea of ​​love for God, a new (unknown to antiquity) virtue is born - mercy; involving forgiveness of insults, readiness for compassion and active help to those who suffer. Against the background of the idea of ​​love, it gets its expression " Golden Rule"morality:" So, in everything you want people to do to you, so do you to them.

In contrast to Stoicism, which is oriented towards a strong personality capable of finding everything within itself, Christianity is addressed to the "poor in spirit", to the "needy and burdened", to all those who need an external point of support. Christian morality offers consolation to the desperate - redemption of suffering and eternal bliss in the other world. The omnipotence of religion finds various forms of expression in medieval philosophizing. The idea of ​​subordinating morality to religion is most clearly reflected in the work of Augustine the Blessed (354-430 AD). The affirmation of God as the only source and criterion of morality; the interpretation of evil in the context of the ineradicable sinfulness of man, which prompts him to deviate from divine prescriptions; the negative significance of activity and the discrediting of the moral usefulness of the individual - these are the foundations of the ethical views of one of the most significant representatives of the era of patristics. Augustine's ethics showed that "the principle that brings the origins and goals of moral behavior beyond the limits of the individual is just as one-sided as the principle that completely closes them to the individual."

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Based on the ethics of Aristotle, comprehending it in the context of Christian doctrine, Thomas tried to synthesize morality into religion. Structurally harmonious and very ingenious ethics of Thomas Aquinas, nevertheless internally deeply contradictory, which is the result of the original installation. In fact, all the ethical constructions of Thomas refute his intention and prove the opposite - the impossibility of the harmony of religion and morality, the union of which can only be affirmed through subordination, and not equality.

Spiritual opposition in the Middle Ages tried to counter the official ethical doctrine with a set of ideas based on subjectivism. In this vein, the German mystic Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), who sought to prove the significance of individual moral choice, undertakes his studies of the state of the human soul. The inclination towards the individualization of morality is also characteristic of Pierre Abelard (1079-1142), who defended the role of reason and inner conviction in the moral being of a person, who affirmed conscience as the highest moral criterion. Such ideas were not only a protest against the absolutization of divine sanction in morality, but also a kind of anticipation of the subsequent fate of ethical consciousness at a new stage in history.

Topic 5. Ethical thought of renaissance and modern times

During the Renaissance (14-16 centuries) geocentric worldview orientation in Europe. culture is replaced by the anthropocenter. Humanism is proclaimed the system-forming principle in philosophy and ethics. However, the Renaissance interpretation of this idea differs both from Christian humanism and from contemporary ideas about humanity. The thinkers of that era implied that:

A person must express himself in creativity, which makes him similar to God the Creator;

A person in moral behavior should be guided by reason, which makes him similar to God - the highest Reason,

With the help of reason, a person can substantiate moral values ​​himself and be responsible for the moral meaning of his activity;

Morality regulates the behavior of a person among people, and not the relationship of a person and God;

The task of the individual is to maximize the expression of his human essence, thus, humanism is interpreted as the principle of a person's attitude to himself, his creativity;

Earthly pleasures have a moral justification.

The principle of humanism in the Renaissance was the basis for the liberation of the human person, a prerequisite for the formation of its moral autonomy. However, the specific interpretation of humanism became the source of some unbridled morals in this period.

The ethics of modern times seeks to comprehend morality both as an objective law and as a subjective-personal phenomenon. She is trying to create a system, to generalize what has been done before. This is due to the development of natural science, which gave rise to the conviction that an objective view of things can be extended to morality. Ethics can acquire scientific rigor and certainty if it borrows the methods of the natural sciences - physics and geometry. Otherwise, it will remain the subject of ordinary consciousness.

The idea of ​​the sovereignty of the moral subject, on which the spiritual opposition was based in the Middle Ages, becomes central, and reason acts as a universal means of its assertion, which also makes it possible to explain the general obligatory nature of morality.

In understanding the moral nature of man, philosophers were divided into two directions. Some of them (N. Machiavelli, T. Hobbes) believed that human nature is inherently corrupted; others (T. Mor, J. J. Rousseau, K. Helvetius) considered her kind. However, both those and others were unanimous in one thing - man is an egoistic being. Only the former considered egoism as an expression of its natural nature, while the latter saw its cause in the historically established conditions, the unreasonable organization of society.

According to Hobbes, morality, together with law, is a prerequisite for a person's exit from the "state of nature", i.e. pre-state. Nature has created humans to be the same mentally and physically. Equality of ability gives rise to equality of hopes for achieving goals. Since different individuals strive for the possession of the same things, mistrust arises between them and, as a result, war. There are three reasons for war in nature: rivalry, distrust, a thirst for glory, which force people to attack in the name of profit, security and considerations of honor. Thus, Hobbes understands the state of nature as a war of all against all, as an unrestrained play of egoistic inclinations. Egoism permeates the whole everyday life of the individual. The way out was found thanks to the basic law of nature - people should, by all possible means, strive for peace, and for the sake of peace, give up the "original right to things." In this sense, morality is directly related to legal laws, when individuals, by contract, by reasonable agreement, alienate some of the original rights in order to preserve society. According to Hobbes, morality is inconceivable outside of society and the state, which provide a criterion for distinguishing virtue from vice: morality acts as a set of norms designed to bring the actions of individuals under a common denominator. In this sense, morality is inextricably linked with law, it practically dissolves in law, because the legal system, through the system of rewards and punishments, is called upon to translate moral truths into the plan of individual behavior.

A different understanding of morality is present in the Dutch thinker B. Spinoza, who does not associate morality with politics and the state, but looks for them in human nature. According to the author of the Ethics, the essential feature of a person is the desire for self-preservation, which is the basis of human virtue. Benefit, calculation, benefit - this is what constitutes the driving force of human actions. "Calculation of profit" constitutes "the lever and vital nerve of all human action." What is just is what is necessary to maintain and increase one's benefit, one's wealth. An individual protects someone else's interest insofar as it corresponds to his own interest. In a word, good is identical with the benefit of a person, and evil is that which prevents the achievement of personal benefit. But the egoism that drives behavior becomes moral only as rational egoism.

Virtue in its specific content is revealed as knowledge. The growth of a person's cognitive abilities, his ability to develop from the lower levels of knowledge to the higher ones acts as a process of moral improvement. It is knowledge that in Spinoza's ethics is the highest virtue, the highest, and the ultimate moral goal. The moral value of actions depends on how much they are based on reason, on correct knowledge about the world.

P. Holbach (1723-1789) and K. A. Helvetius (1715-1771) interpreted a person in a psychophysiological key ("man is a purely physical being" - Holbach). Overcoming his natural self-love, a person (as a rational subject capable of self-government) can and must become a "reasonable egoist", i.e. correctly understand their interests and be guided by the "compass of public benefit" for their implementation. Morality, which proposes a setting for the public good, turns out to be useful to the individual, since it allows him to realize his interest. ("Virtue is nothing but the benefit of people united in society" - Holbach). The guarantee of harmony between the personal and the general is a "reasonable society", whose legislation contributes to the implementation of human naturalness. The social predestination of such a position, connected with the affirmation of the spirit of bourgeois relations, is quite obvious. As for theoretical foundations ethical research of materialists, then here they make a methodological mistake, constantly reproduced in modern times: "Deriving, as it seems to them, a certain moral position from natural philosophy, they actually project their moral outlook on the structure of the universe, on eternal human nature."

The ethical ideas of the French materialists, which contained many fruitful ideas, are limited by the framework of a naturalistic approach to morality. The ethical consciousness of the naturalistic type does not go beyond a logical circle: morality is built on value premises that themselves need to be proven. This "naturalistic error" was first convincingly described by I. Kant (although the term itself is of a later origin), offering a different vision of morality.

It is possible that it was precisely this circumstance that forced L. Feuerbach (1804-1872) to abandon speculative philosophy and turn to the natural immediacy of man. However, the naturalistic tradition, with which Feuerbach connects his hopes for the creation of a "life", concrete, effective ethics, has probably already exhausted its constructive possibilities, therefore Feuerbach's plan is not adequately implemented, but takes the form of preaching a morality based on love and rather indefinite in terms of content.

The originality of Feuerbach's ethical views is associated not only with the positive he proposed (the ethics of "tuism", the altruistic relationship between "I" and "you"), but also with a voluminous criticism of religious and idealistic ethics, the conviction of the priority of materialistic orientation in ethical research. You can find a lot of interesting ideas regarding individual ethical problems (arguments about egoism, including the features of group egoism, descriptions of the moral significance of love, etc.). Nevertheless, Feuerbach failed to offer a more constructive, in comparison with idealistic ethics, version of the harmonization of what is and what should be, the ideal, and reality.

Topic 6. Ethical views of modern times

In the development of European ethics, as well as philosophy in general, after Kant, Hegel and Feuerbach came new stage, which is most commonly referred to as postclassical. It is characterized by at least two common features. Firstly, antinormativeism, understood as a rejection of independent and universally significant programs for the moral improvement of a person; it can also be called contextualism, meaning that in the knowledge of morality, the emphasis has shifted from general principles(universal principles) into private, objective incarnations. Secondly, the new disposition of ethics in relation to morality as its subject. From a theory that legitimizes (clarifies, generalizes and continues) moral consciousness, ethics has become an instance that exposes and discredits it; it is no longer so much a theory of morality as its criticism. These features indicate a general trend present in various ethical teachings, a brief outline of which will be given in the second chapter of this section. But first, let us consider the teachings that embodied the break with the ethical classics of modern times.

Schopenhauer interprets human life as a continuous struggle between compassion, on the one hand, and the forces of egoism and malice, on the other: the latter prevail, although they are rooted in inauthentic being. The evil-egoistic forces in man are so great that the whole culture, in fact, performs the function of curbing and disguising them. Etiquette rules of politeness are nothing more than an attempt to hide the disgusting bestial appearance of a person under a fine mask.

First of all, it should be noted that the philosopher stands on the point of view of individual ethics, denying any moral value behind the society. He does not recognize the historical and social dimensions of morality, in whatever religious, national, political or other forms they may appear. Among the innumerable ills that befall man, one of the greatest misfortunes is that he is compelled to live in society; it is in society that selfishness becomes malice, natural inclinations acquire a sophisticated form that makes even more illusory the possibility of their satisfaction.

The fundamentally personal (more precisely, non-social) orientation of Schopenhauer's ethics turns into anti-normative. The ethical thought of modern times, considered in its main trend, has always been associated with legal consciousness and was primarily an ethics of abstract principles. Schopenhauer rebels against the rule of laws and norms over individuals. He does not accept Kant's categorical imperative, as well as all those philosophical foundations that lead to it. According to Schopenhauer, Kant borrowed the categorical form of his ethics from theological morality. He not only rejects a certain moral law, but calls into question the very rights of the legislative authority - the rights of reason.

Significantly different realities are hidden behind the word "morality", and therefore a more rigorous definition of the subject of analysis is required. Speaking about the morality that has spread in Europe and is so hated by him, Nietzsche emphasizes that this is “only one kind of human morality, besides which, before and after which many others are possible, primarily higher “morals.” There are many different moralities, the most common and the most important difference between them is that they are divided into two types: master morality and slave morality.

Nietzsche's non-moral morality is fully moral in terms of its role, place, and functions in human life. It can even be considered morality to a greater extent than the slavish morality of compassion and love for one's neighbor. It differs from the latter in at least two important functional features: a) it is organic to man; b) overcomes the hopelessness of the confrontation between good and evil. Let's briefly consider these features.

Marxism is a set of teachings that claim to be an integral worldview and offer a social reform program for the industrial era; it was developed by the German thinker and revolutionary K. Marx (1818-1883) in collaboration with his compatriot F. Engels (1820-1895), was developed in the works of their followers, among which V.I. Lenin. In Marxism, everything is focused on the struggle for communism as a bright future devoid of social antagonisms, the onset of which is associated with the revolutionary liberation struggle of the proletariat.

From the point of view of attitudes towards ethics and morality, it can be distinguished the following forms(stages): early Marx, classical Marxism, Engelsism (the term is not in circulation and was adopted to refer to the new emphasis made by F. Engels in the course of the systematization of Marxism both during the life of K. Marx and, especially, after his death), ethical socialism, Kautskyism, Leninism, neo-Marxism, Soviet ethics.

The life choice of K. Marx, who made him a communist revolutionary, as evidenced by the gymnasium essay "Reflections of a young man when choosing a profession" (1835), was largely stimulated by the pathos of moral self-improvement and heroic service to humanity. Moral motivation is felt in his work and actions throughout his life, but especially in the early period. The position of the early Marx, most fully expressed in the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844", is characterized by a humanistic criticism of capitalism, carried out from anthropological positions. Marx sees the deep basis of social antagonisms in the alienation of labor, which acts as the alienation of the products of labor, labor itself, the generic essence of man, and, as a result, as the alienation of man from man. He understands communism as "humanism mediated with itself through the removal of private property", "genuine appropriation of human essence by man himself and for man." In his analysis of capitalism and description of communism, moral assessments, motives and goals play an important role.

Classical Marxism, embracing the views and teachings of the mature Marx, primarily the materialist understanding of history and the doctrine of the world-historical role of the proletariat, is characterized by a radical denial of morality and ethics in their historical forms.

Marx agrees with the previous philosophical ethics in its critical part, in a negative assessment of the mores existing in society, real forms of behavior, but unlike it, he does not believe that the imperfect world is once and for all a given and in principle unchanged set of objects, the shortcomings of which can be compensated only internal self-improvement or the hope of an afterlife. He understands being differently - as a social practice that can be transformed by human standards.

K. Marx embodied the idea of ​​moral transformation of reality in the doctrine of communism. Here he encountered the most difficult (until now unsolved) problem of the subjectivity of morality. In the language of K. Marx, it sounded like this: how can imperfect people build a perfect society, or how to educate the educator himself? The answer was that the revolutionary transforming and at the same time the morally purifying force of history would be the proletariat. The real condition of the proletariat (its morals, intellectual and even physical development), which Marx and Engels assessed quite soberly, gave no grounds for such a conclusion. However, it was assumed that when it came to the revolution, along with the circumstances, people would also change, the proletariat from the class "in itself" would become the class "for itself", cleansed of all the "abomination of the old system", in a word, there would be some miraculous transformation of Cinderella into princess.

Topic 7. Ethics at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries

In the XX century. with the greatest completeness, the essence of humanism was formulated by Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965). He believed that ethics is the "soul of culture" and is the main means of possible overcoming the spiritual crisis in the conditions of technogenic civilization. Schweitzer connects the degradation of modern society with the isolation of culture from its ethical foundation, excessive material concern. According to Schweitzer, the beginning of human existence is the universal desire to live, which affirms: “I am the life that wants to live among the life that wants to live.” From this follows the main ethical principle - "reverence for life." He also acts as a criterion for distinguishing between good and evil: everything that preserves, elevates life, is good; everything that harms her is evil. Throughout his life, A. Schweitzer showed an example of humanism in practice: he treated the poor in Africa, opposed the use of atomic weapons, was an opponent of fascism, racism and other forms of misanthropic ideology.

The principle of respect for life, developed by Schweitzer, is characterized by three points: first, this principle is comprehensive. Schweitzer does not consider reverence for life to be one of the principles, even one of the most important. He believes that this is the only principle underlying morality. Schweitzer believes that even love and compassion, although these are extremely important concepts, are only component concept of reverence for life. Compassion, which is an interest in the suffering of a living being, is too narrow a concept to represent the whole essence of ethics. The ethics of reverence for life also considers the feelings of living beings, the conditions of their existence, the joys of a living being, his desire to live and the desire for self-improvement.

Secondly, this principle is universal. Schweitzer believes that the principle of reverence for life applies to all forms of life: people, animals, insects, plants. The ethical person does not ask to what extent a being is sympathetic or valuable, or to what extent he is capable of feeling. "Life as such is sacred to him," says Schweitzer. An ethical person does not tear a leaf from a tree, does not pluck a flower, and strives not to step on insects. In the summer, when he works by daylight, he prefers to keep the windows closed and breathe in the stuffy air, rather than watch one insect after another fall with scorched wings onto his table. If he walks along the road after a heavy rain and sees earthworms crawling out of the bowels, then he is worried that they will dry out too much in the sun and die before they have time to burrow into the ground again. And he picks them up and lays them on the grass. If he sees an insect that has fallen into a puddle, then he stops and takes it out with a leaf or a blade of grass in order to save him. And he is not afraid that they will laugh at him because he is sentimental. Schweitzer says: "It is the fate of any truth to be ridiculed until that truth is generally accepted."

The third principle is infinity. Schweitzer does not enter into any discussions about how widely ethics applies, to whom it applies. He says: "Ethics is an unlimited responsibility towards everything that lives."

Ethics of existentialism. Existentialism delved into the problem of the essence and existence of man. Karl Jaspers (1883 - 1969), Martin Heidegger (1889 - 1976), Jean Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980, Albert Camus (1913 - 1960) and others defined morality as a reflection of inauthentic being, a means of public manipulation of personality. In such a being, a person loses its essence, becoming like others.Therefore, in general, it is hostile to man.At Camus the world is a world of absurdity with which man is in constant conflict. He invites a person to overcome borderline situations through an attitude towards God, i.e. non-authentic existence, and to be absolutely free.

Personalism- an existential-theistic direction in philosophy, recognizing the personality as the primary creative reality and the highest spiritual value, and the whole world as a manifestation of the creative activity of the supreme personality - God.

In personalism, one can single out a bright and actual trend of dialogical personalism, representatives of which are M. Buber, Nedonsel, N. A. Berdyaev. The social side of the personality, namely communication or dialogue, is declared in dialogical personalism as the basis for the constitution of the whole personality. Dialogical personalism, operating with new existential categories (I, YOU, WE), seeks to overcome the epistemological I-centrism of classical philosophy, bringing the problem of cognition to a new ontological level of the problem of creativity.

Topic 8. The concept of morality, its structural and functional analysis

Morality- this is a form of social consciousness that reflects the relationship of people in the categories of good and evil, justice and injustice and fixes in the form of moral ideals, principles, norms and rules of behavior the requirements imposed by society or a class on a person in his daily life.

moral functions. The specific essence of morality is specifically revealed in the interaction of its historically formed functions:

a) regulatory. Morality governs behavior individual, as well as society. The bottom line is that not only people control the lives of others, but everyone builds his own position, guided by moral values. There is self-regulation of the individual and self-regulation of the social environment as a whole;

b) value-oriented. Morality contains vital guidelines for a person. And even though they are not directly practical, they are necessary for our life to be human, and not just biological. These are ideas about the meaning of life, about the purpose of man, about the value of everything human. We do not think about it every day, and only when the values ​​of our life are in crisis, again and again we ask ourselves: why do we live? Thus, the task of morality is to give the everyday life of our existence the highest meaning, creating its ideal perspective;

c) cognitive. In morality there is knowledge about moral concepts, about the rules of the community of people, i.e. it is not knowledge in itself, but knowledge refracted in values. This function of morality gives the individual not just knowledge of objects in themselves, but orients him in the world of surrounding cultural values, predetermines the preference for those or others that meet his needs and interests;

d) educational. Morality sets the task of familiarizing the individual with its concepts, developing a stereotype of behavior, turning the foundations of ethics into a habit.

But morality does not so much teach one to observe a set of rules as it educates the very ability to be guided by ideal norms and "higher" considerations, i.e. teaches him to do the right thing while maintaining his autonomy.

The structure of morality

In different historical epochs there are different structures of moral consciousness. Nevertheless, one can speak of some general features of the structure of moral consciousness. Its main elements are the system of values ​​and value orientations, ethical feelings, moral judgments, and moral ideals. As elements of the theoretical level of moral consciousness, its structure includes the historically established system of categories of morality (categories are specifically historical in nature - evil is not always evil). These are the categories of goodness and related categories of the meaning of life, happiness, justice, conscience. Let's take a look at these elements.

moral standards is stable, established in public consciousness arrangement of nodal moral values, embodied - with some variations - and in the minds of the individual. In moral norms, as regulators of social life, their special property, imperiousness (imperativeness), stands out especially clearly. The norms accumulate in the form of a command the useful socio-historical experience of many generations of people. A conscious set of norms and principles is usually defined as a moral code.

Conscience- one of the most ancient and intimate-personal regulators of human behavior. Together with a sense of duty, honor, dignity, it allows a person to realize his moral responsibility to himself as a subject of moral choice and to other people, society as a whole. Conscience is one of the expressions of moral self-consciousness and well-being of the individual. The variety of situations in which a person finds himself makes it impossible to foresee the procedure for action in each specific case, to give a ready-made recipe for a moral outburst for each unique situation. The moral regulator of behavior in all these cases is conscience. It is the moral guardian of the individual's behavior in a wide variety of situations, and especially in those where the control of public opinion is absent or difficult. Conscience is a moral lynching to which a person submits his inner world. It is a kind of fusion of rational awareness and sensory experience in the human psyche. It most sharply expresses a feeling of moral satisfaction or dissatisfaction (it is not for nothing that they speak of an “unclean” and “clean” conscience), it acts in the form of deep emotional experiences of a person (remorse of conscience).

Duty- a high moral duty, which has become an intrapersonal source of voluntary subordination of one's will to the tasks of achieving, maintaining certain moral values. It expresses awareness of the moral decision by the individual of the question of the relationship between his own and public interests. Understanding one's duty is associated with social class positions, with a preference for certain values ​​of life, it implies a conscious choice by a person of one or another worldview system, one or another set of values ​​and norms. In this respect, duty is closely related to the ideal. That is why a person is also responsible for the choice of those principles, norms and values, the implementation of which he considers his internal duty.

Happiness cannot be regarded as a state of unclouded peace of mind. No matter how a person protects himself from anxiety, it still invades his life. Moreover, happiness is not a state of continuous joy. It includes the opposite states - sadness, sadness, regrets. Absolute satisfaction is nothing more than an empty abstraction. Happiness, paradoxically as it may seem, lies in the ability to go through individual misfortunes, overcoming them, in the readiness and ability not only to endure minor troubles, cope with negative emotions, or refuse to satisfy some needs, but also to take risks, to remain faithful to their ideals. Happiness- in the ability to deal with one's own weakness, selfishness. That is, happiness is a self-assessment of all life activity in its entirety, or in other words, it is a special psychological state, a complex set of human experiences associated with a positive assessment of his life as a whole.

Topic 9. Morality: essence and content

So, morality is the main subject of ethics, which it has been comprehending throughout the history of its development. Nevertheless, as already noted, a generally valid definition of morality has not yet been developed, which is explained by a number of reasons: the complexity, content variability, and multidimensionality of this phenomenon; the difference in methodological attitudes of various areas of ethical reflection, etc. Understanding the problematic nature of any definitive experiences, one should still offer a working definition of morality, which may look like this: morality is a special way of regulating relationships between people, based on the distinction between good and evil. It is clear that such a definition can in no way be considered exhaustive, but it is quite acceptable as an initial point of support for further research and specification.

It is advisable to re-fix the "regulatory idea" or the meaning of morality (stabilization of the human community and the assertion of the self-worth of a person), which, probably, should be constantly present "behind the scenes" of the structural and functional analysis of this peculiar phenomenon of spiritual existence. In addition, it is necessary to make a reservation once again that the concepts of "morality" and "morality" are used in the book as identical, although in the history of ethics there have been attempts (where there were linguistic possibilities for this) to separate them.

The problem of the specifics of morality (debatable and incomplete, like most ethical problems) is associated, first of all, with such specific features of morality as its non-institutional nature and the lack of a clear localization. The last, i.e. a kind of "omnipresence" of morality, its solubility in all types of human relations, especially complicates attempts to strictly scientific study of it. Comprehension of the specifics of morality also involves the study of the characteristics of its structural components and the originality of functioning, which, taken together, makes it possible to understand its uniqueness.

Before highlighting any functions of morality, it is necessary to think about the question: why, for what purpose does it actually function? A constructive answer to this question is probably associated with the above-mentioned sense of morality. It turns out that the most common goal of the functioning of morality is to maintain the integrity of the human community and, at the same time, the intrinsic value of the individual in this community. The answer to the naturally arising following question: how does this happen? - predetermines the possibility of specifying the "regulative idea" of morality in the context of designating the directions of its functioning, i.e. individual functions.

Of the many points of view that exist in ethics on this issue, the simplest model has the greatest heuristic potential, into which, if desired, other classifications can be "packed". According to this model, the most common and significant are the following functions of morality: regulatory, epistemological, educational, cognitive, communicative, humanizing. In other words, morality realizes its meaning on the basis of a special form of reflection of the world, a special way of regulating relations between people, special settings for educating a person. At the same time, the specifics of morality should be associated not with the presence of these or some other functions, but with originality, with the form of reflection, regulation, education. It is clear that the allocation of these functions to a certain extent is conditional: they are intertwined with each other in a complex way, manifesting themselves in reality together and simultaneously. With this circumstance in mind, let's try to consider these functions in a little more detail.

The regulatory function manifests itself in practice quite spontaneously and contradictory, which is largely due to the lack of a special institution that would deal with this. important matter. The specificity of moral regulation is that it is carried out by means of exclusively spiritual influence, is not of a rigid nature, suggests "self-legislation of the will" (Kant), i.e. free choice by a person of certain moral orientations. External (public opinion) and internal (intentions of individual consciousness, defined as duty, conscience, etc.) components of the mechanism of moral regulation are correlated as means and goals, in other words, self-regulation is a full-fledged form of moral regulation. Concretizing the regulatory function, it is possible to single out a number of subfunctions in it. So, for example, the orienting subfunction, as it were, aims a person at certain ideals, at such an image of what is due, which is capable of spiritualizing being in existence. The motivating subfunction is connected with the fact that moral requirements act as motives for people's actions, and the corrective subfunction is associated with the ability to change one's behavior under the influence of self-esteem or evaluation. public opinion. These and other manifestations of moral regulation are united by a high degree of voluntariness of the individual, since too hard pressure on him from the outside (even if "with good intentions") inevitably distorts the meaning of morality. Thus, morality is the most humane and most universal regulator in the human community.

The specificity of the epistemological function is determined by the normative-evaluative form of information obtained as a result of moral reflection. In other words, the world in morality is not reflected in a mirror, but by correlating it with some proper model and correspondingly evaluating it through the prism of good and evil.

The educational function of morality is aimed, in case of harmonious manifestation, at stimulating the process of moral self-education of the individual, i.e. all possible external educational influences in this area should be carried out with great care so as not to “crush” the full-fledged self-determination of the individual.

The cognitive function of morality is a means of knowing the inner world of a person, gives him ethical knowledge, helps to solve moral issues, manage his behavior, feelings, etc.

The communicative function of morality consists in the ritualization of human communication, the humanization of communication, the desire to make communication as pleasant as possible for all parties. Orients a person to good in communication.

The humanizing function lies in the desire of morality to improve a person.

Topic 10. Historical development of morality

Morality has gone through a rather long, complex path of development from the most primitive norms and ideas to the highest aspirations of modern preachers of holiness and purity.

When solving the problem of the origin of morality, researchers face great difficulties. And this is not accidental, because in this case, the output on the problem of the essence, or rather the Mystery, of the person himself is inevitable.

In the question of the origin and development of morality, the most common are three approaches: religious raising morality to the divine principle, naturalistic, which derives morality from the laws of nature, in particular, biological evolution, and social, considering morality as one of the social, sociocultural mechanisms that ensure the stability of society. In the first case, the concepts of good and evil are defined in their relation to the deity, in the second - to nature and in the third - to society. This does not mean that the content of good and evil is necessarily understood differently. Of course, when considering the source of morality in public life, good and evil can be made dependent on the interests of some social groups. But this means that good and evil are ideologized, morality is used to justify private public interest. More often, more precisely, in the vast majority of moral teachings, good is understood as that which contributes to the good of people, moreover, of all people and every person.

Religious interpretation of the problem of the origin of morality. Christian theologians traditionally speak of the divine nature of morality. The individual receives it both in the form of a “natural moral law” (internal law) and in the form of a divinely revealed (external) law. The moral law cannot be considered a consequence of experience, education, habit, because it does not take into account what happens in earthly life, but only indicates what should happen. Likewise, human nature is not a source of morality, for human natural inclinations often contradict the inclinations of morality, and well-bred people are forced to suppress them.

The religious interpretation of the origin of morality has a number of advantages. First of all, it emphasizes the universal, universal nature of morality. Divine prescriptions apply to all people without exception. Before morality, as before God, everyone is equal. Within certain limits, religion is able to limit the scope of subjectivism, arbitrariness in moral assessments and judgments: God himself ordered to respect elders, not to steal, not to kill, etc.

With religious views on nature, the origin of morality, the views of representatives of objective idealism (Plato, Hegel) largely intersect. Hegel considered morality, along with law, religion, philosophy, as one of the stages in the development of the objective spirit. Thus, representatives of this philosophical trend, like theologians, take the origins of morality beyond the boundaries of society and clearly underestimate the role of an individual human person in the development of moral consciousness.

The next direction in the search for the origins of morality we will conditionally call naturalistic, because it in one way or another derives morality from human nature and from the previous evolution of the animal world.

Naturalistic approaches to morality have a number of serious arguments at their disposal. However, it should still be recognized that in this case we meet with a clear manifestation of reductionism (returning back), with the reduction of the higher to the lower.

Morality is not a set of the simplest forms of behavior, but includes striving for higher values, freedom, and creativity.

Various directions have also become widespread, which in one way or another emphasize the social nature of morality. The sociological approach to morality was already known to the thinkers of antiquity (the sophists, Aristotle, etc.). The Marxists were especially active in defending it. E. Durkheim, M. Weber and their followers should be referred to the same direction. Among them it is not difficult to find materialists, idealists, and those who declare morality the result of an agreement, those who spoke about the priority of religious and moral values. But they all noted the social nature of morality. These thinkers tried to rely on specific historical data - certain historical events, facts, customs, traditions, mores. They also tried to identify public interests, comprehend society as a whole and emphasized the closest relationship between the individual and society, with the priority, as a rule, of the latter. Finally, they emphasized the human nature of moral values.

IN sociological theories moral values ​​are replaced by the interests of society as a whole, and more often by the interests of various social groups, which, of course, change from century to century, from people to people.

In sociological theories of morality, moral values ​​are almost directly connected with the current interests of people and social groups.

Moral principles are rooted in deepest antiquity into the very foundations of human existence. The initial among them should be considered the recognition human life the highest value, the background of which is still in the animal world, where representatives of the same species do not destroy each other, do not bring conflicts to a tragic ending.

The sociological approach to morality does not adequately take into account the deep sources of morality, the closest connection of social life with nature, the Cosmos.

Thus, there are several concepts that explain the origin of morality. To a certain extent, they complement each other, create a cult