ASIAN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS

ETHICS AS A QUEST FOR SPIRITUAL LIBERATION

HINDUISM
◦ Oldest living religion in the world
◦ Roots dating back more than 4,000 years
◦ Third largest religion behind Christianity and Islam
◦ No specific founder
Hinduism Beliefs
◦ Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as “way of
life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion.
◦ Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as
“Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses.
◦ Believe in the doctrines of Samsara
◦ One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul. The goal is to achieve
“moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul.
◦ Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and
morality.
◦ Hindus revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal.
◦ Food is an important part of life for Hindus. Most don’t eat beef or pork and many are
vegetarians.
◦ Closely related to other Indian religions e.g. Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism
Sat-Cit-Ananda (Absolute Being-Consciousness-Bliss)
◦ Brahman = absolute being
◦ Atman = inner self, inmost soul, or breath of life
◦ Atman is Brahman
◦ The inner self is also the absolute being and principle of reality.
Niskamakarma (No-pleasure-action)
◦ The splintering of the Absolute Self of the Divine into individual selves in creation is what orients
the human life struggle to be liberated from the cycle of Samsara (transmigration).
Purusharthas (The Four Ends of Life)
Hinduism describes how life consists of four ends: artha, kama, dharma, and moksha.
a. Artha (Material Wealth)
As entities entombed in a body, we naturally have material needs. This end is called in Hinduism
as Artha or material wealth.
b. Kama (Pleasure)
We also naturally desire pleasure and happiness. This is referred to as Kama.
c. Dharma (Moral End/Duty/Nature)
The third end of life is Dharma. Dharma is plurisignificative.
1. Moral
2. Duty
3. Law
4. Nature
 o Dhri = support, hold up, or bear.
o Dharma = points to the idea that every entity that exists has a role to play, a duty to perform.
a. Moksha (Blissful Spiritual Liberation)
o The final aim of spiritual liberation in Hinduism.
o The power Maya and the enlightenment of the mind to reach true knowledge or Vidya.
o The self’s realization of its absolute divine nature, at the same time the blissful end of all
suffering. It is the ultimate end towards which all our actions must be directed.
o The final aim of spiritual liberation in Hinduism.
o The power Maya and the enlightenment of the mind to reach true knowledge or Vidya.
o The self’s realization of its absolute divine nature, at the same time the blissful end of all
suffering. It is the ultimate end towards which all our actions must be directed.

Dharma as “that which supports”

Caste System
a. Brahmin (head) = priests and guru
b. Kshatriya (arms) = rulers, administrators, warriors, landowners
c. Vaishya (thighs) = producers, farmers, merchants
d. Shudra (feet) = servants

o Dharma highlights how the nourishment of a society is dependent of all its members.
o There is no ‘I’, the ‘ego’ is a product of illusion

BUDDHISM
o religious and philosophical tradition that originated in India, like Hinduism. It developed from
the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha — “the Awakened One”.

Two of the main practices of Buddhism

1) compassion towards others
2) meditation leading to enlightenment.

The canonical texts of Buddhism are the Tripitaka or Three Baskets:

1) Vinaya Pitaka
2) Sutta Pitaka,
3) Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Anatta-Anicca-Dukkha (Nothingness-Becoming-Suffering)

o Both Buddhism and Hinduism take off from the belief that the different entities, life forms, and
levels of existences are the products of Samsara.
o But in contrast to Hinduism, Buddhism asserts that the ultimate end of life is the realization
not of one’s absolute divinity, but rather the realization of one’s absolute nothingness. In
 addition, in Buddhism it is not being or permanence that characterizes and constitutes reality
but contingency and becoming.
o The transience of reality, the fact that everything eventually fades and vanishes in the end, is
what causes the noble truth of life in Buddhism: the noble truth of suffering. From the Buddhist
perspective, what motivates and drives man to live the moral virtuous life is not the desire for
bliss, but the cessation of suffering.

The Middle Way

◦ The cessation of suffering is possible only through the Middle Way, which consists of
understanding the Four Noble Truths and the practice of the Eight-fold Path. This is what the
Buddha refers to as the way to Enlightenment or the Great Awakening.

Four Noble Truths

1. Dukkha (Noble truth of suffering) – “Birth, old age, sickness, and death are suffering. Sadness,
anger, jealousy, worry, anxiety, fear, and despair are suffering.
2. Dukkha Samudaya (Noble truth of the origin of suffering) – “Because of ignorance, people
cannot see the truth about life, and they become caught in the flames of desire, anger, jealousy,
grief, worry, fear, and despair.”
3. Dukkha Nirodha (Noble truth of the cessation of suffering) – “Understanding the truth of life
brings about the cessation of every grief and sorrow and gives rise to peace and joy.”

4. Dukkha Nirodhagaminipratipat (Noble truth of the path) – “The path which leads to the
cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path. The Noble Eightfold Path is nourished by living
mindfully.”

Eight-fold Path
1. Sammaditthi (Right view) – Buddhism reminds that we must be cautious and discriminating
about what we allow to grow in our garden of thoughts.
2. Sammasankappo (Right intention) – One must know what to seek and understand the path one
intends to follow.
3. Sammavaca (Right speech) – Just like our actions, speech can also cause harm to others and
even ourselves.
4. Sammakamanto (Right action) – The ultimate moral command in Buddhism is “to do no harm”.
Actions must instead be infused with compassion.
5. Samma-Ajivo (Right livelihood) – Buddhism enjoins us to refrain from pursuing a livelihood that
could harm lives.
6. Sammavayamo (Right effort) – Buddhism recognizes that what makes liberation from suffering
so difficult is the fact that the world of Maya or the life of Samsara is filled with attractive and
desirable things that satisfy the senses.

7. Sammasati (Right mindfulness) – One can only fully follow the eight-fold path if one also has a
sense of mindfulness or awareness of one’s deeds, thoughts, words, and the way one lives as a
whole.

8. Sammasamadhi (Right concentration) – In the path towards spiritual liberation, one must have
the right concentration in pursuing only this path so as not to waver from it.
ETHICS AS A WAY OF LIFE

DAOISM
o Begins with the assumption of the paradoxical nature of reality
o “The school of the way”

The Dao

o Is identified as the Way. It is the process, nature, and movement of reality—a moving
permanence.
o The Dao as the Way means it is the Way of the Absolute
o The path towards the absolute. It is the path towards embodying the Way of the Dao and it
consists of magnanimity, spontaneity, effortlessness. It is the law of morality.

CONFUISIANISM
The Confucianism Symbol
o Means the “code of conduct”
o Represents the source of life
o Also called the water symbol

Confucius (Proponent)
 o Is the latinized name for Kong- Tzu or Kung-Fu-Tzu
o Was a scholar and well versed in charioting and archery, history and numbers, music and rituals.
o For him, philosophy is a kind of a system of ideas and thoughts that talk about the human
behavior, the rules to be followed to become successful in life and about government.

Five Constants
 Yi
Upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good.
 Zhi
Education is very important for him.
 Ren
The virtue of benevolence, charity, and humanity.
 Li
Following/ respecting of etiquette and norms of daily life.
 Xin
Refers to keeping one’s word and being faithful to it. (not to gods, but to one’s words,
tasks, etc.)

Four Virtues
 Zhong
One should be loyal to their superiors and vice versa.
 Xiao
Children must respect their parents, but a child has a duty to dispute with his/her
parents if necessary.
 Jie
One must exercise self control.
 Yi
The same as the one in the four constants, which is the moral disposition to do good.

Contributions of Confucianism
 Public Policies
 Family Codes
 Relationship Ethics
 Education
 Government

Teachings
1) Morality
2) The importance of justice, sincerity, and filial piety- the duty of every son to serve his
parents.
Aims
 Character building / Moral education
  Create gentlemen who carry themselves with grace, speak correctly, and demonstrate integrity
in all things.
 To produce men who are capable to serve in the government/ in decision roles.
 To resurrect the traditional values of benevolence, propriety and ritual in Chinese society.

The Golden Rule: “Don’t do unto others what you do not want to do unto you.”

Confucianism
 Major system of thought in China
 Developed from the teachings of Confucius and his disciples: MENCIUS and HZUN TZU
 Concerned with the principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social
relationships.
 Has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social
value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions.
 Built on the foundational belief that man is basically good.

CHRISTIAN ETHICS
◦ a system of values based on Christian scriptures and the teachings and character of the Christian
prophets and Jesus Christ as they are narrated in the Bible.
◦ In Christianity, the books comprising the Bible are believed to be inspired by God. They are the
works of Divine Revelation, making the Bible the major source of knowledge about what is right
and wrong.
◦ Christian Ethics is derived by interpreting the moral significance of the behaviors of individuals in
the biblical stories, over and above the Bible stating directly what counts as ethical in the form
of moral codes.
◦ concerned fundamentally with “spiritual formation”.
◦ This ethical virtue of unconditional love towards one another is a duty that God has imposed
upon humanity through Christ. It comes from the admonition to love one another as God has
loved humanity, despite human misgivings and wrongdoings.
◦ The only way humanity can be saved from sin and the wages of sin is by following the moral
teachings of Christ as he lived them. This includes showing mercy and compassion to every living
creature, even to one’s enemies. It also involves a certain level of introspection that one should
not be quick to judge others and should focus instead on one’s own moral cultivation.

ISLAMIC ETHICS
THEORY OF THE ULTIMATE GOOD
⮚ The term altruism derives from the Latin ‘alter’ which means “other”. Hence, altruism in the
normative sense entails that “everyone ought to disregard his or her own self-interests for the
sake of others.
⮚ Good of others as the end of moral action.
⮚ Pure Altruism – totally selfless

LAVINAS vs SINGER
⮚ Lavinas- Advocates ideal altruism, we should always put others above ourselves.

⮚ Singer- “Human beings are social animals and that we were social before human.” Reciprocal
Altruism, we look out for others, and they look for us.

EGOISM

o Ego, pride
o Promotes own personal good and constitutes morally right action.
o It can be descriptive or normative.
o It is a philosophical view that human beings do, ought to do, always act for their own benefit.

3 THEORIES OF EGOISM

Egoism as normative theory

Everyone ought to look out and seek only for their own best interests. People ought to help others only
when and to the extent that it is also in their own best interest to do so.” (MacKinnon 2004, p. 35)

Ethical Egoism

“One ought always to maximize one’s own personal good as an end.” (Holmes, 1998) From this
perspective, the highest moral value is one’s own good.

Psychological Egoism

A theory that attributes the way humans behave to their nature as selfish or self-interested agents.

Egoist and Egotist

Egoist

 An egoist is someone who embraces the ideal of Egoism.

 He puts his needs and himself before others.
Example
• “What’s it for me??”
Egotist
 Highly self-opinionated, self-obsessed, boastful, arrogant person.
  Considers himself as superior when compared to others
Example
• “In awesome, amazing and super talented, more than you.”

NICHOMACHEAN ETHICS

o Focused on the “science of happiness”

o Considered first and most important ethics that has also influenced political philosophies.
o According to Aristotle, happiness is the ultimate good.
o Aristotle’s theory of virtue emphasizes an individual’s character.
o Virtue is a skill. Virtuous thought comes from the rational soul.
o To become virtuous means doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, in the right
amount towards the right people.

1. Instrumental – an end that allows to achieve another goal.

2. Final
• Done for own sake
• Perceived to be good but not the final
3. Supreme end
• The final
• Called as happiness or eudaimonia
• Gives purpose and direction to our lives
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES

⮚ The word “virtue” is from the Latin word, which means “strength or manliness”.

⮚ In Aristotle’s ethics, its equivalent is the Greek term arête, which means “excellences of various
types” (MacKinnon 2004). It is a disposition to effectively perform one’s proper function.

TWO TYPES OF VIRTUES

o Moral Virtue- Also known as the virtue of the character (generosity and temperance)
o Intellectual Virtue- Is the virtue of thought (wisdom, comprehension, intelligence)

DIVISION OF SOUL REGARDING VIRTUE

⮚ According to Aristotle, our soul is comprised of the rational component.

• Nutritive component – this is the part responsible for nutrition and growth. It has no
share in reason and is therefore not directly relevant to the virtues.

• Rational component – this is the part responsible for reason. Its virtues include
theoretical wisdom (Sophia) understanding (sunesis) and practical wisdom (phronesis).

• Appetite component – this is the part that governs desire. It “partakes of reason insofar
as it complies with reason that accepts its leadership.”

LIFE OF REASON AS THE HAPPIEST

 “Anybody who aspires to live a happy life must endeavor to live a virtuous life”
 Happiness is the highest good
 Is to “live well” is the ultimate goal, which we all sake for its own sake
 “A life of reason is a life of virtue. A virtuous life is a happy life.” – Aristotle.