Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:28:01 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [HAB:] Getting ethical (re: Sue, "Educational system")


Sue > An ethical sensibiity doesn't come naturally. It
goes against people's natural instincts.

G: Well, I can agree that life is full of evidence
that ethicality, if you will, is *apparently*
counterintuitive or too difficult. It's easy to be
cynical. But at least 3 kinds of consideration may be
very worthwhile, re: an ethical naturalism.

1. Supposing your children are wanted in the first
place, it's natural to want to be a good
parent---however much we may question what being a
"good parent" IS (what young mother is confident about
that?), and given that---given a natural instinct to
be a good parent and keeping that instinct near to
heart---good parenting is likely to result, because
the instinct leads to a continuing learning process
among mothers (classically from the mothers of the
mothers) that tends to result in decent parenting.
But, of course, there are innumerable complexities to
this, including what modernity has done to the lineage
of good parenting across generations. Yet, modernity
has also installed spheres of education processes that
traditional (premodern) families didn't have access
to. 

Anyway, a lot can be said for the claim that
aspiration to good parenting is natural. I would argue
that "the motherhood constellation" (Daniel N. Stern,
Basic Books, 1995) is the basis for "empathy and moral
development" (Martin L. Hoffman, Cambridge, 2000)

2. Given decent parenting and regular access to
ethical example (within family, extended family and
neighborhood), children will prefer to be good rather
than bad. This is a very simple way of putting a long
story, but let that simple statement stand for a
possibly endless inquiry into how ethical sensibility
really forms. In fact, most children who are raised in
decent families turn out to have a decent ethical
sensibility. 

So, I would argue that it's natural to become
generally ethical in one's life, given decent
parenting and access to ethical example. I like
Philippa Foot's sense of "natural goodness" (Oxford,
2001).

3. Then come issues of social gardening, if you will:
What it is about neighborhoods, schools, etc. that
supports and fosters our ethical nature. Relative to
this, we can make sense of the failures, dysfunctions,
distortions, and dominations that motivate social
critique, justify the social work profession, and the
like. 

-------------------------------

G> > So, what happens to human development that ruins
or retards ethical sensibility?  

S> Or, what happens to the person, outside the
abstract notion of "human development".  

G: Right: The notion of "human development" is a very
general rubric for what is important in ordinarily
lived (and termed) processes of family life,
education, and local culture. 

-------------------------------

G>> But to those who are undecided between living
ethically and living ruthlessly (e.g., teens
formulating their preferences), there's lots to be
said for living ethically. 

S> I don't know if adolescence is a bit early for
someone to decide to live ethically. 

G: It is not too early. Indeed, concerns about good
and bad, right and wrong are quite relevant for very
young children, who are exploring what it means to be
"me". "Little Sue (or little Gary) is someone
who......."  And the parent says, in effect, in so
many ways: "You don't do *that*; here's who you are."

------------------------------

S> I said it's [i.e., being ethical is?] a decision,
but I think that, in part, it comes out of life
experience and might also be seen as not really a
choice. There may not be another way forward,for that
person, at least not one recognised.

G: I can agree. Growing up is a mix of chance and
choice, what feels right and what is learned to be
right. Over countless scenes, general dispositions
toward typical issues settle in. Also, we may learn to
me more deliberate about what we do, relative to
what's important or controversial, and this leads into
later capacities for discernment in reflection about
what "we" do or what "I" have done or may do. 

Thanks for your interesting comments about schooling
in England. 

Gary






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