MORALITY

How might an account of the origins of traditional morality also provide a critique of that morality?

How might an account of the origins of traditional morality also provide a critique of that morality?

Introduction

This paper discusses the concept of morality in a holistic context. Moraliy is a rather a wide concept that cannot be locked up in a few words to define its core essence. It is the blend of character, intentions, decisions, personality as well as other unquantifiable concept. Morality is widely followed over a period of years, it becomes strengthened and people stop discussing the origin of the morality. They mistake this morality, which has been created by society, as a culture, religion and ethic. It is because of this reason that many of the principles of morality are manmade and their origin is beyond the knowledge of men. The paper also covers the origins of morality and attempts to provide a critique of the particular morality selected.

Discussion

Society may be understood as a group of people who not only live together but also share the same beliefs and follow the same value system. These communal values that are followed by a group of people are called morality. Sometimes these are followed as tradition and sometimes they are followed through individual meanings. While virtue is to do with consciousness, morality is about language. This society is the main origin of morality. A person acts in a certain way in a given situation. The members of the society make comments on it and pass their opinion, remarks and judgments (Cottingham & Stoothoff, 1985, p. 78). Some people will think that the action taken by the person was appropriate while the others will think that the action taken by the person was not appropriate. Depending on what the majority thinks, the action of the person will be classified as moral or immoral.

The term traditional values or traditional morality is used very often. More commonly this term is used to address the personal values and concept of morality of a person. This is done by people who do not have a critical mind. This could not be farther from the truth. Only the word traditional is added to add to its credibility and give it more weight. However, people who have a critical mind do not have the same perception on the definition of traditional morality (Watts, 2007, p. 1). They understand that morality as per the traditional definition is another name for fairness and caring behavior. Though the traditional morality is influenced by liberalism, it is greatly affected by the value system of the ingroup. This means that people who belong to a group are expected to remain loyal to that group. Also, if a certain person is marked a certain role, the group members will respect that person for that role in addition to giving him general support and respect as a person (Cottingham & Stoothoff, 1985, p. 78).

Difference between morality, virtue and ethics

Morality, virtue and ethics are three terms that ...