Ethics and Change

What is the summum bonum, the highest good? One conclusion is that one should live so that one's actions should lead to the greatest happiness. This formulation ties good to happiness. Happiness in this definition is distinguished from pleasure, which the result of short term satisfactions or instinctual gratifications.

Ethics itself is based on the following paradigm:

1. Victims are unhappy.
2. Search for victims (usually those who are less than equal, or who seem to be taken advantage of).
3. Empathize with them.
4. Apply laws and resources to remove the victim status.
5. The victim is now no longer a victim and is happy.

This is a great theory and the main thought process that bedevils teenagers and young adults. The 5 steps seem intuitive, but are they correct? And, if there are errors in some of the steps, it is possible that following the above steps may actually create less happiness and more misery, although you may get pleasure from doing it. This would make it...ah...unethical!

Here are the main problems that current scientific research has exposed:

1. Victims aren't always unhappy. Unhappiness is mainly due to internal makeup and less due to external circumstances. Obviously, hunger, disease, lack of shelter can produce some true misery, but otherwise people just get used to their surroundings, no matter how meager or how affluent.
2. A person who seems less equal can be that way because of internal factors. This can apply to groups as well as individuals. Internal self and group elevations are more effective and create more of an internal self-worth than external advantage programs.
3. A victim, yanked from his victim hood without having actually earned it on his own, will likely flounder. There is self respect and nobility in working for success and achievement that cannot be gained from largess. This is the American Way, nobility through achievement rather than through entitlement. It is wrong when the royalty is entitled; it is wrong when the poor are entitled.

So, when you hear "change" remember that the playing field should not be level. It is up to families and subcultures to instill in their children the values that will lead to lifelong happiness and success. Failure to do so should not be rewarded by society, lest we increase misery in the world.