But ethics is concerned with individual character/ conduct. So, when an individual is ethical,
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- He/She develops inner harmony
- He/She is rational
- He/She is less harmful for the society since many societal problems will be avoided as problems germinate from human behavior and so ethics helps in creating a good human / better society.
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Example: Peaceful protests without employing any violence on part of the protestors ( usually observed in western countries) vs violent protest including looting the shops, burning the vehicles and other resources ( seen during protest against Centre’s Agnipath scheme for recruitment of soldiers- India) . The nature of protests observed all depends on people and their ethical values.
Since ethics is about individual character & conduct, ethics brings improvements in human character, conduct and helps in making humans – good humans.
Society is nothing but a summation of individuals & if individuals have good character & conduct, society in summation will have people with good character & conduct. Good character & conduct is the basis of solution for most of the problems of society.
Human behavior is the root cause of most of the problems and hence ethics can provide the most important weapon for solving problems in society. It is the character of people which is the most distinguishing factor between different countries irrespective whether they are developed or developing. In essence, it can be said that ethics can help in establishing peace, harmony, stability, order and a society with high level of satisfaction & contentment in life, that’s why Vivekananda remarked
“ A society is not strong because it has atomic weapons rather it has people with good character”.
DOPT MATERIAL
Importance of ethics/ Why do we need ethics
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- Poor ethical judgment has produced devastations such as the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the meltdown of reactor at Chernobyl, and the failure of Barings Bank.
- Our Constitution as well as all our religious books are full of codes and directives on high values and ethics to be followed by the state as well as the society. Notwithstanding these, there is a perceptible change in the mind-set of the people towards achieving materialistic goals and prosperity irrespective of the “means” to be adopted. Ironically, the society also respects material prosperity only because of visible glamor attached with it with little regard to higher values of simplicity, honesty, hard-work, character building etc.
- There is a saying that a country gets the kind of government it deserves. This is truly reflected in our present day society and calls for a serious introspection and concerted effort towards change in the social mind-set.
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