PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS IN DEFENCE OF A CULTURE OF LIFE

Abstract

Whatever be the traditional understanding about philosophy, to my mind, it stands for the perspective that a person, individually or collectively, accepts, cherishes, and upholds in the web of human relationships and human actions with a view to enhance life in its multifarious dimensions, Technically, especially within the academic circles, however, ethics or practical philosophy has been identified as that discipline which provides us with a tool to distinguish between right and wrong arguments, with a hope to lead humart agents to maximise good actions I and minimise bad actions. Hence, it is expected of a philosophical deliberation upon life to distinguish between right and wrong perspectives and arguments that are said to be at the back of many a human action with which we come across especially in the context of bioethics and related issues. Although better clarity can be legitimately expected of such an exercise, I do not intent, and I do not dare to hope, to handing down a set of perfectly acceptable moral conclusions; instead, what I propose to do here is only to highlight a couple of philosophical positions, which might enable us - who face the muddled waters of life and death issues in the modern world of advanced technological interventions - to arrive at sound arguments and life enhancing perspectives. For, the aim of humanity as a whole must be to evolve a culture of life, a situation where all would subscribe to a positive view of life and shape a creative way of life, culminating in the enhancement of both life and culture.