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