Socrates, the eminent philosopher of ancient Greece, vehemently contends that a moral framework rooted solely in fluctuating emotional values is fundamentally flawed and devoid of substance. In his scathing critique, he dismisses such a system as nothing more than a deceptive illusion, lacking both validity and truth. According to Socrates, relying on subjective emotions to determine ethical standards leads to a superficial understanding of morality, characterized by shallowness and vulgarity. Instead, he advocates for a more rigorous and objective approach to ethics, one based on reasoned principles and universal truths. By denouncing the notion of relative emotional values as inherently flawed and inadequate, Socrates underscores the necessity of a more robust foundation for moral reasoning, challenging individuals to transcend their transient feelings in pursuit of genuine moral insight and virtue.
Tag: Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Decoding the Question:
- In the Introduction, defining morality and do mention what Socrates tried to convey through this quote.
- In Body,
- Discuss a few points -why relative emotional values are mere illusion.
- Mention the basis of morality and ways to achieve balanced emotions.
- Conclude, with the importance of morality and also mention that sometimes ethical values are compromised to uphold moral values.
Answer:
A system of morality ingrains principles relating to the contrast between right and wrong or good and bad way of behaving. Morality is the inner character of a person to know what is right from wrong. It determines the good and bad behavior of a person. Morality refers to the social norms and values that guide both individuals and their interaction with their fellow human beings and communities, and with their environment.
Values are – as the word suggests – the things in life that we most value. Whilst our opinions blow with the wind and our attitudes change over time, our values and beliefs tend to remain fixed throughout our lives.
In this above quote, Socrates claimed that when emotionalism is the foundation of moral choices, then the moral choice is vulgar. Since vulgarity is the antithesis of morality, then the choice based on emotionalism is not a moral choice.
A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion because:
- Values driven by emotions are not made through an objective mind which are bound to errors and issues.
- Emotional values like sadness, hatred and anger, drive humans towards revenge seeking attitude which blinds the true consciousness.
- Driving only by emotional value can go against the morality of State or Constitutional Morality. For example: In the Sabarimala Verdict, the Supreme Court gave preference to Constitutional Morality.
- Driven by emotional value and morality are the causes for mob-lynching, cow-vigitalism that are prevalent in India.
- It can also lead to biased decision making.
- It dilutes leadership quality on understanding other emotions and building empathy.
- It also led to favouritism in communal tendency.
Basis of morality and ways to achieve balanced emotions are as follows:
- Due emphasis on empathy building.
- Building emotional literacy.
- Encourage participatory decision making and avoid extreme self-decision.
- Promote active listening and communication to enhance emotional and intelligent quotient.
Emotions are relatively and highly unreasonable in placing their demands, whereas morality constitutionalised reasonability. This conception is not in good taste since humans err exceedingly, extraordinarily and carelessly. That is why there are inestimable statutes worldwide.
When it comes to the acceptability of morality, it transcends the norms laid down by culture. Morality is seen from the perspective of an individual. Change in morality depends on the change in the beliefs of an individual. Morality is followed because a person believes that it is the right course of action. However, there could be situations where ethics are violated by a moral person to uphold his moral values.
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