HOMO ETHICUS TOWARDS ETHICAL SOCIETIES

Abstract

Ethics is a species-specific variable: All human beings are ethical; only human beings are ethical; and to the extent that human beings are ethical, they are fully human beings. A living human being is not just a bundle of perceptions, thoughts, or judgements but is an individual actively and critically engaging in varying relations with God, community, and world. These relations have a constitutive ethical dimension personally and socially. Human beings do not just seek pleasure, they seek meaning and purpose for life. As human beings we possess a reflective awareness of good and bad, right and wrong, just and unjust, etc. It is nurtured and developed by living in societies. Though we may disagree on what is good and what is bad in different situations, we agree on the first principle of ethics that good is to be done and evil is to be avoided. Being ethical is the categorical imperative.