Browsing by Subject "Ethics"

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ATHEIST SEARCH FOR MORALITY IN 19TH CENTURY
(University of North Bengal, 2023-03) CHAKRABARTI, MALABIKA
Open Access
Ethics in administration : problems and some ways to reinforce it
(University of North Bengal, 2022) Roy, Joly; Basak, Jyotish Chandra
In the present scenario, the maintenance of moral standards and norms in the conduct of public affairs in a democratic country tends to become a major problem for the people because of different labels of Government and the involvement of many public functionaries in Government. Historically speaking, neither a capitalist nor a socialist nor a welfare state is immune to the corrosive evil of corruption. This problem is continuing and, therefore, the matter is a continuing debate. There is a widespread feeling that the present context all over the world; more so in our country, is such that the many facets of ethics in public life merit scrutiny. Many laws, rule books, and codes of regulations have been initiated to eliminate or control corrupt practices. Bribery reigns in every government office, from the highest officials to every table. No work is done without bribery. A doctor is a respectful person to the patient, but when the patient goes to that doctor for treatment, he prescribes various unnecessary medicines and tests for a certain diagnostic center with which often the doctor has cordial relations. The police officer even if he or she is honest and strict, sometimes had to follow the unethical order of the political leaders. Even the small traders of common fish and vegetables in the market have understood that there is no way to survive if they do not get involved with corruption. If we do a close examination of society, we will find that the public today is bewildered by the octopus of corruption. Many acts of omission and commission have been set up to fight against these illegal practices. But the researcher believes that these efforts taken to control corrupt practices can only work on the external side of the problem. To eradicate it, we must address the internal aspect of the problem. To solve the problem internally, the researcher believes that we need to inculcate ethical codes or values among the administrators as well as the other section of society. Despite, the fact that several studies have focused on the importance of Ethics in Administration, there have been very few efforts spent on identifying what exactly constitutes the crux of ethics in administration. This is one of the logical reasons for selecting this area of study. Giving a rich background on the incidence of political corruption in Indian administration covering its features, forms, causes, and impact; the present study proposes to discuss: the political context of public morality and the factors which impede its operation in Indian Tradition; the need for ethics in present administration; and components of ethical conduct of administrator. The main objective of the thesis is to examine the implications of the basic principles of ethics as projected in the Arthaśāstra Tradition and Nītiśāstras Tradition in the Indian context which formed the base of ancient Indian Administration and discusses their impact on different administration imperatives which in turn act as the determinants of ethics in administration in current times. This study will also focus on the importance of ethics in eliminating corruption concerning the push and pull of ethics and administration and how mindsets and basic approaches to administration and governance can be changed. The objective of the study raises some questions that the researcher seeks to answer are: 1. What are the teachings or training a king or an administrator should follow to set up good governance according to Arthaśāstra Tradition and Nītiśāstra Tradition? 2. Was Rājdharma the model of good governance? 3. What is corruption, what are the different types of corruption, and how is corruption understood at the administrative level? 4. How to inculcate ethical values to fight administrative corruption? For the study, the researcher has used philosophical, comparative, and analytical methods of textual analysis. The texts and concepts that deal with the ethical codes, and corruption of Administration from ancient to the present day, the researcher attempts a close textual reading of the literature produced with an overreaching historical perspective. For the betterment of analysis, the researcher has divided the thesis into six chapters – I. “Introduction” II. “Insights from the Indian Tradition and Praxis: Arthaśāstra Tradition and the Nītiśāstra Tradition” III. “Rājdharma: A Coinage for Good Governance in Ancient India” IV. “Administrative Corruption: Causes and Remedies” V. “Ethical Codes: The Reinforcement of Morality in Administration” VI. “Conclusion” Chapter I – Introduction The chapter covers the main arguments, justification, and scope of this thesis. This chapter highlights the context of the study, objectives, research questions, review of literature, and methodology of the study which the researcher has already discussed in the above section. Chapter II - Insights from the Indian Tradition and Praxis: Arthaśāstra Tradition and the Nītiśāstra Tradition In this chapter, the researcher has discussed the origin of the state and its functionaries according to the Shastrakars of Ancient India. As it is a vast area and could not be possible to go through all the Śāstras, the researcher has selected certain Śāstras. These are the Arthaśātra of Kauṭilya (other Arthaśātras are no longer extant) and Nītiśāstras. Of Nītiśāstra tradition we have selected three Nītiśāstras― Śukra Nītiśāsāra, Kāmandakiya Nītiśāsāra and Nītivākyamitram. Other than these, the researcher has also discussed Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural which was originally written in the Tamil language. Kauṭilya in his Arthaśātra suggested strong and strict discipline for the king as well as for the administrators. He pointed out that a strong leader must bring order to an anarchical society. His Arthaśātra contained principles that gave rise to the ethical values for all political functionaries in Indian tradition from the king to the lowest level of public servants. Kauṭilya thinks that only through Daṇdanīti a ruler or king can bring his subjects dharma, artha as well as kama. In his Arthaśātra, he gave several instances to show that when Daṇdanīti is adhered to with the utmost care then only the three principles of life are fulfilled. In administration, this Daṇdanīti should be used to offer security and well-being to the people. The Nītiśāstra thinker Jaina Saint Somdeva Suri in his Nītivākyamitram, blended Arthaśātra principles and Dharmasāstra principles to offer his viewpoint. He said that we need to pursue all four purposes of life – dharma, artha, kama, and moksha in a well-balanced manner without giving over importance to either one. By following this only society can be ruled in a disciplined way. Like Kauṭilya, he thinks that governance and administration are arts that the king and his other organs such as the minister, and civil servants must acquire through proper education and training. The welfare of the people should be the final aim of the king and his administration. Another Nītiśāstra thinker, Kāmandaka in his Nītiśāstra talked about several moral principles regarding the behaviour of a ruler and his subjects. In his book, he talked about various teachings that he thought were important for the monarch to acquire, maintain and increase the territory and wealth. He thinks that the king and his administration should have knowledge of Śāstras which will lead to humility in them. He advised the king to control the six emotions - lust, fury, avarice, devilish joy in hurting others, a desire for honour, and hubris and the main concern should be the welfare of the people. Kāmandaka also suggested four types of learning for the king— Ānvīkṣikī, Trayee, Vartā, and Daṇdanīti. He laid down a detailed code of conduct for the king. The other Nītiśāstra thinker selected for the study, Śukrāchaya in his Nītiśāsāra emphasizes the necessity of a moral code in ruling a state. These moral codes can upkeep the relationship between the king and his subjects, between subjects themselves, and can have peace and prosperity in the state. To preserve order in society, Śukrāchaya suggested following Swadharma. According to Śukrāchaya, a king's swadharma is to see that his subjects uphold swadharma. He has been instructed to employ daṇda to make sure that swadharma is being followed. The most significant penance is the practice of swadharma. He also talks about how in ruling a state properly, the seven organs play an important role. Śukrāchārya also thinks that the king should have knowledge of Śāstras which will help to bring order to society. He speaks about the eight duties of a king like the Arthaśātra and Nītiśāstra thinkers. He also suggested the use of Daṇdanīti by the king, but it should be used very carefully otherwise it may hasten his destruction. He gave a detailed layout of the seven organs of the state. The Tamil thinker, Tiruvalluvar in his book Tirukkural which is often referred to as the Gita in South India and though it belongs to a different tradition, talks about a similar point of view. Like the Arthaśātra tradition, Tiruvalluvar also admits the function of the seven organs of the state while putting the king on top. He gave utmost importance to the education of the king. He warned the monarch to always use caution and to think things through before acting. He believed that ruling a kingdom justly and righteously renders a sense of safety and security to people at large. The Śāstraskars discussed in this chapter gave more useful insights about the way of infusing morality in administration. Thus, all these thinkers suggested that the king should have proper training or education about Śāstras and ethical values which will help him and his subjects to attain the four purposes of life – dharma, artha, kama and mokṣa. Without following the ethical codes and values, the administration cannot run properly. As the administration of a state has an important role in catering to its people the goal of life that is – mokṣa. The king’s main goal should be the welfare of the common people, and this will help him to bring order to society. Chapter III - Rājdharma: A Coinage for Good Governance in Ancient India The second chapter which is entitled “Rājdharma: A Coinage for Good Governance in Ancient India” focuses on the notion of the term Rājdharma which means king’s duties and rules of governance. Though the concept of Rājdharma was found in Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata where Pitāmaha Bhisma advises Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pāndava brothers, about the notion of Dharma, the role, and duties of a ruler to his people, there are many other texts which dealt with the notion of Rājdharma. For example, in Manusmṛiti, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and even in the Ramayana, we could find the notion of Rājdharma. Rājdharma is a concept that pervaded Indian Statecraft, Diplomacy, and the polity of rulers. It implied that rulers were bound by dharma or ‘Rāj Dharma,’ which meant ensuring good governance for the people. The absence of good governance is the root cause of many societal deficiencies. The Epic Rāmāyana. contains references to good governance, diplomacy, war, and peace. The epic is filled with important ethical values. In that epic, we also come across the concept of Rāmrājya. It advocates ethical governance with principles of morality, justice to all, peace, prosperity, and welfare of the people. According to Mahatma Gandhi, Rāmrājya means the ultimate values of dharmas, upheld since time immemorial. Ramarajya as described in the Rāmāyana had all characteristics of democracy. Despite there being no electoral procedure in those days, public opinion was considered and given due importance. However, it is the Mahabābhārata that gave prominence to the notion of Rājdharma and articulated it very precisely in political morality or the art of politics. While advising Yudhisthira, Pitāmaha Bhisma initially talked about the origin of the state and its functionaries. He emphasized that the observance of Rājdharma is a must for all rulers including the trivarga. He suggested Daṇdanīti as a weapon of a kind to bring order to society. Like Kauṭilya, Bhisma also gave importance to the king. He advised that the king should have some values such as kindness, benevolence, ethics, mercy, royalty, modesty, and the overall aim should be the welfare of the people. Bhisma also prescribed proper training for the king, otherwise, the wrong application of Daṇdanīti may ruin the king and his kingdom. Manu in Manusmṛiti also discusses various aspects of Rājdharma. He was the supporter of the Divine Right theory regarding the origin of the state which subscribes to the idea that the king was the creation of God. Manu also suggested the application of Daṇda being the coercive power of authority of the ruler or the power of punishment. Manu and Kautilya share similar views regarding the application of Daṇdanīti by the king. The concept of Rājdharma as explained in this chapter makes it clear that the spirit behind Rājdharma was to ensure peace and happiness or to say maintain good governance. Without following the ethical value of Rājdharma, the administration of a state may end up in anarchical and arbitrary rule. The administration system of ancient India is repleted with several good governance instances following Rājdharma. To fight corruption in the current administration, we need to rediscover our cultural heritage, customs, practices, beliefs, and values painstakingly emancipated in our ancient scriptures. Chapter IV- Administrative Corruption: Causes and Remedies Chapter four which is entitled “Administrative Corruption: Causes and Remedies” begins with a description of the different forms of Indian Public Administration from the Ancient to post-independent period. Before the arrival of the British Raj, the mechanism of administration was quite simple as it was purely dependent on the ruler. During the colonial period, Lord Cornwallis reforms the administrative mechanism in India. Though the setup was done to deliver good governance, recruiting untrained civil servants failed to fulfil the expectation of many people. The cause of the dissatisfaction was due to the immoral practices and corruption done by the administrators. It went on such a level that even in the post-independent period, corrupt practices are sinking the country. Several rules, laws, and regulations have been implemented to fight administrative corruption. In 1962, the Santhanam committee was formed by the Government of India under the leadership of Kasturirangan Santhanam to suggest anti-corruption measures. Santhanam Committee prescribes following the ethical code of integrity to fight corruption. The committee suggested that integrity should be taught at the school, college, and university levels, as they are the main suppliers of civil servants of public administration. The chapter then discusses the issue of corruption and the need for ethics and morality in fighting corruption. In this section of the chapter, the researcher has discussed the concept of corruption by contrasting the ideas of some select thinkers across the world. Robert Kiltgarrd, a noted anti-corruption researcher, in his 1988 study Controlling Corruption (Berkeley, University of California Press) and “Addressing Corruption Together” gave very topical and useful insight on it. He composed a corruption formula that has gained wide popularity: C=M+D-A. We can explain it linguistically thus: Corruption (C) equals monopoly (M) and discretion (D) devoid of accountability (A). The three variables on which corrupt practices hinge are—Monopoly, discretion, and accountability. This amended version of the corruption formula makes it clear that only administrative and legal instruments are not enough for curbing corruption. Morality becomes an indispensable variable in fighting this menace. The discussion further moves to examine how the issue of corruption has been used by a politician. For example, the case of Benigno Aquino III who became president of the Philippines by campaigning against corruption. When he took over the government of the Philippines ranked 133 are the position of 178 countries on the GIR report of corruption. President Benigno Aquino's practical strategy and mechanism to fight against corruption using the model of other countries significantly reduced the level of corruption. As a result, in 2014 along with Georgia, and Colombia, Indonesia become the 3rd country that significantly reduce its corruption level. Kiltgaard tries to show that countries that successfully fought corruption had implemented his formula C=M+D-A. Santhanam Committee also emphasized the model of positive and negative incentives. For example, raising pay is one type of positive incentive and taking strict action against the major offenders is a negative incentive. The result is administrators will always be cautious and on their toes. But the suggestion of the Santhanam Committee has many criticisms. People believe that Lokpal institute needed to fight corruption as CBI, ED, and CVC are created for the same purpose. Whatever organization and laws are created they become an open sky for the influential few and a cobweb for the helpless mass. corruption is increasingly capturing positions of power and influence. We need to remember that when the chief of CVC is appointed, they also fall under the trap of corruption. There is no mechanism to ensure that every time man at the top will be a man of integrity. President Aquino himself maintained moral integrity as a model with the hope that others will follow him and he succeeded. Hence the need for morality in administration cannot be overlooked. Kiltgaard further goes on to say that to fight against corruption we required moral or ethical reforms. Chapter V - Ethical Codes: The Reinforcement of Morality in Administration The fifth chapter entitled “Ethical Codes: The Reinforcement of Morality in Administration” focuses on the need for ethical values in administrations. The chapter tries to examine in detail the different approaches by which administrators can imbibe ethical codes. Generally, administrators enjoy authoritarian power which often tends to corrupt them. Lord Acton commented that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Power enables someone to punish and prize the people. The chapter further tries to concentrate on the notion of Integrity as proposed by the Santhanam committee in the earlier chapter. To avoid corruption and the right use of power, the administrators should have integrity. Though many critics and thinkers have shared their views on the values of integrity to fight corruption, for the paucity and purpose of my study I have done a selective study on the views of Kenneth E. Boulding, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Johnston, B.V, Dag Hammarskjold, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Subhash Ch. Bose, Sri Aurobindo, Damian Cox, Greg Scherkske, Gabriele Taylor and son on. After analyzing the viewpoint of these thinkers, we can say that the use of power is very important in administration. As it can easily fool someone to choose corruption. Therefore, the discussion focussed on ethical values so that the administrator should positively use power and have altruistic love in themselves. Integrity and morality can help an administrator to follow this path and inculcate ethical values in them. Chapter VI - Conclusion While focusing on the objectives of the thesis discovered that – 1. A close study of Śāstras makes us realize that the authors of these works firmly believed that the mere law of the land is not enough to keep Mātsya nyāya at bay. 2. All the authors discussed in the second chapter, despite the divergence of opinions are at one about the necessity of ethical codes in administration. Nowadays when we lament the
Open Access
Ethics, Monstrosity, Stupidity: Animal Poetics & Contemporary ‘Literary’ Thinking
(University of North Bengal, 2022) Nandi, Ratul; Ghosh, Ranjan
My thesis attempts to find the ‘literary’ answer to the problem of knowing the animals from their own ontological enclosures. Mobilising the word ‘Poetics’ to resonate a paradoxical awareness of animals’ being, which we at once succeed and fail to discover, the project seeks to uncover how the works of literature as ‘poiesis’ are fundamentally consistent with such an im-possible animality. While not discrediting the empirical dimension of an animal’s being, my work attunes to what is at stake in our attempts to conceptualise animal thinking. Primarily conceptual, the project examines the stakes of literature to put in motion the ‘onto-epistemic’ paradoxes and disorientations that underlie the question of animals and their seemingly ‘straightforward’ representations. Refusing to see the animals neither solely in their physical register nor in their conceptual costume, the project homes in on a ‘in-between’ experience that does not draw any demarcation between species identity: between the animal and the human. The expression ‘Animal Poetics’ does not seek to bring home yet another ‘human standpoint’ on animal lives but proceeds to read all forms of animal thinking as primarily arising out of a deeply entangled human-animal consciousness, an experience that always comes before the event of actual animal subjectivity. Sniffing the scent of such a singular animality, the chapters here present us with three of the most commonplace approaches to animal lives: ethics, stupidity and monstrosity. My first chapter, titled “Animal Poetics & The Question of Ethics,” problematises the very idea of animal ethics through a close reading of two fictional works by the novelist J.M. Coetzee: Disgrace and Lives of the Animals. In Disgrace, the chapter reads the relationship between David Lurie and his dogs as hinting towards an alternative platform for thinking animal-centric ethics which is anchored nether upon the ‘sameness’ nor ‘difference’ between animal and the human species, but upon a feeling of mutual indistinguishability brought on by a feeling of epistemic incertitude. In Lives of the Animals, the chapter unearths the tacit anthropocentrism at play in western thinking that avows to speak for the animals. Deciding to read against the grain of an ostensibly zoo-centric aspiration of the novelist Elizabeth Costello, it unmasks the more profound ‘sacrificial logic’ at work in the discourse of vegetarianism widely accepted to function as a mode of dietetic redemption. The second chapter – “Animal Poetics and the limit of Stupidity” – ties in with the problem of stupidity, a supposedly ‘lesser’ behavioural trait so often imputed to animals for the alleged lack of language and logical thinking. However, the chapter overturns such run-of-the-mill contention by engaging with two of Frantz Kafka’s notable zoo poetical texts, The Metamorphosis and A Report to an Academy. In both texts, the chapter discovers a conscious literary design that deliberately seeks to obscure our received ideas of animal subjectivity by drawing attention to a figure of an ‘animal within’, an experience, it claims, that is irretrievably entangled with our experience of the literature and language. My final chapter titled “Animal Poetics and the Monstrosity of the Other” probes into the concept of ‘monstrous Other’ or monstrosity and re-locates it at the febrile frontier between the human and the animal species. As it recalibrates our banal reception of literary monsters, the chapter further invites us to examine the very power of literary texts to construct monstrous discourses that can eventually return its readers to a state of an (in-between) ontological disruption in themselves. However, what unites all these chapters is my underlying belief in the elusive and ambivalent ontology of animal life, a reality that is at once disclosed to and withheld from its readers and leaves them perpetually in the ontological ‘no-man’s land’ between the human and the animal. The poetics of such ‘indistinction’ is, as my project argues, inextricably bound up with the experience of literature. ‘Animal Poetics’ does not attempt to be objectively accurate about specificities of animal life as such, but lays bare the deeper considerations at work in such authoritarian undertakings: it is not concerned with animals as a theriomorphic reality, the animal as it ‘is’, but with the animal as an experience of the ‘im-possible’.
Open Access
Human Gene Editing and Its Inherent Conundrums: Legal Perspectives
(University of North Bengal, 2022-03) Sarkar, Madhumita Dhar; Mazumder, Belayet Hussain
Gene Editing, as a work of human ingenuity and innovation, opens up a vast range of possibilities for human existence in the future. While Gene Editing, on the surface, opens up the possibility of human perfection, it also raises a slew of ethical, philosophical, economic, and legal difficulties. From the standpoint of India’s commitment to ensuring an egalitarian society in which access to the fruits of science and technology is made available to both the rich and the poor, the prospect of Gene Editing raises deep and complex questions about the disparity in the capacity of the less resourceful to reap the benefits of this scientific advancement. The propriety of pushing such a disruptive technology - of men having the potential to fundamentally and dramatically alter nature’s systems of creation and sustenance - is also a factor in Gene Editing. Gene Editing also brings up the classic “Frankenstein” question: are we unleashing a beast beyond our control? Is it possible to get a global consensus on Gene Editing’s inherent limitations, if there are any? Because Gene Editing involves decrypting the fundamental building components of any human person, it raises the important question of whether such information should be made public, as well as the risks that come with it. Within its limited scope, this study makes a determined effort to address the aforementioned conundrums. It also attempts to provide a glimpse into the future that we are moving towards in terms of Human Gene Editing. While the scope of the various issues relating to Gene Editing is vast, the paper focuses primarily on the dimensions of Gene Editing’s economic perspective in India, its ethics, law, and scientific progress, informed consent and counselling in the domain of Gene Editing, and the need for transparency and accountability in the domain of Gene Editing.
Open Access
Wittgenstein on meaning of life
(University of North Bengal, 2024-03) Ghosh, Avhijit
The key contention of this paper is to explain the concept of the higher value and its role in realizing the meaning of life after Wittgenstein. Concerning value, Wittgenstein does not hold the position of classical ethicist; instead, he understands ethics based on the linguistic and logical analysis of the world. It is a debatable question about what type of book Tractatus is. Some would say that it is a book of logic. Others would say it is a book of ethics and religion, etc. However, such opinions regarding the book show its multifarious philosophical dimensions. This paper consciously tries to determine the profound significance of the concept of higher value (mystical). At the outset, Wittgenstein does not show his concern concerning ethical and religious values; rather, he is concerned with determining the sense of the world or reality through the language-reality relationship. However, it doesn’t provide him with intellectual and philosophical satisfaction. Therefore, he turns his mind towards the limits of language and the world, which takes him into a realm of nonsense and mysticism. It also helps him realize higher values (mystical) and allows him to determine the meaning of life and the world. This also takes him to a certain ineffable truth about which he possesses silence. For him, ethics, aesthetics, and religion pertaining to value are interconnected as they are concerned with the same view about the world as sub specie aeternitatis. Wittgenstein distinguishes between absolute value and relative value. What is relative is accidental and related to the factual world. On the other hand, what is absolute is non-accidental lies beyond the limits of language and the world. Thus, what is non- accidental is transcendental. As it is transcendental, it is inexpressible. Thus, for Wittgenstein, value is deeply connected with happiness, i.e., the meaning of life and the world. Hence, the paper makes a conscious effort to show the philosophical significance of the concept of higher value by employing linguistic and logical analysis of the world and how it is deeply connected to the meaning of life and the world.