Ethics in Politics Economics Religion and Education.

[Music]

the title of this presentation

is the role of ethics in the world of

politics economics

religion and education and as i was

thinking about the possible introduction

i said to myself do we have any ethical

leaders

out there whom should i ask

i decided to go to google and ask the

searching machine

i asked for the top 10

moral leaders of 2018

what did i get look

no names so i said to myself

probably you should ask in a different

way so i move on to the next one

and i said i look for the

ten top ethical leaders of the world

once again i didn’t get any names

and so my question at that point was

why do i don’t get any names

why the names of key political

economic religious

and educational leaders do not appear is

it because

the machine doesn’t know them

or is it because we don’t have them out

there

the claim of this presentation

is ethics and morality

should play a fundamental role

in the worlds of politics economics

religion

and education and it is my contention

that ethics and morality should be

discussed everywhere

in places of work schools

universities churches society at large

yes true the world of politics and the

world of economics

could produce enormous

amounts of fairness and goodness in the

world

if they were informed

by morality

second they could produce the adherence

and goodness

if they would know

their place and their limits

because if there is a collusion

between politics and economics what you

will get is

the destruction of democracy

and the way out or the way in

to corruption

imagine a political leader

who is asking for a sponsorship for his

or her political campaign

and there is this multi-billionaire

giving him or her

the support what happens once the

elections have taken place

yes my friend political leader you have

to pay back

one way or another

i wonder whether the financial

authorities that lead financial

institutions

think about the effect that their

decisions

have on thousands if not millions of

citizens

in developing countries when these

developing countries

lend money from them do they realize

the norms of the of austerity and what

kind of implications

those norms have for those individuals

if those financial institutions

without following strict codes of ethics

and morality

many loans wouldn’t have taken place in

the last

30 to 40 years

or imagine is it okay that banks

receive money coming from illegal

transactions

or people who want to avoid taxation in

their home countries

the politics and economics don’t draw

the line

they don’t have the world they lead it

to corruption

illegal transactions

and dark elements for society

nick hanover has realized

that we need a new economy a moral

economy

he claims that the fundamental

assumptions

of neoliberal economic theory

is not just wrong but it is also

morally corrosive

he gives an example of why that is so

he says when you promote the gospel of

selfishness

this is what you get as a result

multi-billionaires get to the top

one percent of all the earners of the

world

they have received virtually all the

benefits

of the last 40 years that one top he

says

has grown 21

trillion american dollars

an amount that i cannot even imagine

on the other hand he also says

the bottom has grown 900 billions

but poorer and that’s why we have social

inequality

in today’s world

that kind of economy produces mechanisms

of inequality and that’s why it is not

sustainable

in a world like ours anymore

suppose that we go to our initial

four moral authorities and we say what

about religious authorities

yes they also need to be

moral if religious authorities do not

match their prison

with their acting they lose credibility

as well

and religion then can be used and

medused for all kinds of immoral

behavior

or for the justification of injustices

and educational leaders are needed

yes badly needed because they are source

of inspiration

and they are meant to be humble they are

meant to be good people who

help the students to grow

not just to acquire knowledge

but also to acquire wisdom also to

flourish

so that eventually our students become

the best possible citizens of our

societies

the question at this point is

can we learn ethics and morality

because learning mathematics is

relatively easy

you combine theorems you put them

together using rules of

inference and there you go you have a

mathematical result a mathematical

conclusion

but when it comes to morality how do we

learn morality how do we learn ethics

it is not just about acquiring theories

studying them but the most difficult

task is

introjecting the value systems

that we are exposed to the most

challenging thing is

to put into practice then those values

that we claim we have acquired

being a moral person is not easy

it is difficult it requires

repetition today and tomorrow again and

again

and it requires effort because if you

believe in

integrity you have to be

truthful to you today but also tomorrow

and you cannot be telling how truths

here and there reflecting time

and again on the consequences of our

actions

is absolutely important

and the critical thinking has to

accompany

the moral acting

and the perspectives the openness

has also to be part of that process

because monocultural or fundamentalist

perspectives

cannot find a place in a world like ours

i would say ethics and morality need to

be taken seriously

by educational institutions by

companies or places of work by religions

because today yes we do have a lot of

knowledge

but looking closely at the acting that

we have

we see that many of us are still falling

short when it comes to cultural

religious and ethical matters

alan de bottom this philosopher who is

also an atheist

says that the alignment

and the narrative of modernity they

haven’t given us enough elements

of consolation guidance and morality

he says we live in a world badly

secularized

now this consolation this guidance

can be learned in schools and also he

claims

even though he’s an idea is you can

learn it from

religious traditions taking the best

parts of the religious traditions you

could find the consolations and guidance

that you need he is not the only one

this search for wisdom this need for

practical knowledge has been also echoed

by

mark manson this stir blogger with

millions of followers who recognizes

that we are in an existential

crisis that we are in a spiritual crisis

we don’t know what to do

and finally at harvard university this

is professor michael

pewt who teaches a course on chinese

philosophy and his course is full of

students like this auditorium

and the only promise that he makes to

them is

if you take seriously the ideas of

confusions and mentions

your life is going to change as an

educator

i have done my best to enhance the

ethical dimensions in the lives of my

students

i try to make them critical

and i think

detection of morality and ethics works

this is an this is a message

that i got

recently

i wanted to thank you our journey

together made me

a better person and a happy one

i just wish to thank you for being

always great with us

reminding us of what is important in our

lives

and to guide us to live a purposeful

life

in a second testimony goes like this

i found the philosophy of religion class

to be imperative

in our education and upbringing to me

the class was enjoyable

mind opening and one of the few classes

that will always remain

relevant in my personal life and in

relation

to current events yes

as i said in the beginning i really

believe

it is my conviction that ethics

should place a fundamental role in the

world of politics

economics religion and education

i thank you for listening to me

you