Important Terms related to Ethics and Morality

It's not always the same thing to be a good man and good citizen- Aristotle 

Sometimes the most courageous thing you do is one you didn't do 

Quality	My Meaning	Elaboration	Quote	My Experiences	Examples
Ethos	characteristics (beliefs, attitudes, habits) of social behavior of person/group	Ethos required for a public servant    •People First    •Strategic Thinking   •Commitment   •Leading others
Conscience	inner voice which guides our action and helps judge morality, uprightness of our conduct/ actions     allows self-regulation by putting immense psychological costs (guilt, remorse, sorrow) to unethical behavior     superior to external forms of regulation as it punishes both acts of commission and omission	Importance of conscience     Public officials  •Legal vacuum  •Enforcement of law in spirit  •Use of discretion provided by law to maximum advantage for the public  •Practical considerations can be inculcated in the law. e.g. If rules provide for subsidy only below a threshold income but a person is just above the dividing line but has huge family responsibilities, then DM should consider his case and try to find a way out for him.     General    •One cannot cheat oneself.  •Optimal performance not just minimum expected standards.  •Competition and conscience can bring maximum efficiency in work.  •It brings a sense of responsibility and duty for actions as well as inactions.	Confucius: Righteousness is the foundation for good governance. Rules cannot mandate honesty     Gandhi: There is a higher court than court of justice. It is the court of conscience.   •that's why Gandhiji always appealed to inner conscience  •distinguished sin from sinner	not cheating in an open book exam w/o invigilation
Virtue	excellence of character     permanent traits developed thru continued moral exertion
Persuasion	act of influencing someone to do something or to change their mind     instrument of attitude change thru appeal	Persuasion is honorable & eff. means of arriving at truth thru careful prep of arg, presentation of vivid supporting evidence, effort to find correct emotional match w/ audience     How to check manipulation (perversion of persuasion?)  •Intention- caused by Machiavellian  •Withholding truth- unnecessary exaggeration  •Coercion- removal of free choice	Aristotle- Persuasion is inherently good because it is the means thru which truth becomes known	persuaded a family to continue girl education thru personal visit in slum... regularly took lessons     constant appeals for electoral reforms in college- increased transparency	Gandhiji's Satyagraha
Equality	state of being equal in terms of status, rights, opportunities			welcoming colleagues from different backgrounds equally at office
Equity	evenhanded dealing- treating equals equally, unequals fairly				Reservation       Special considerations for the vulnerable - Children, Old, Women, Disabled
Rationality	application of logic, reason to solve any problem	A rational public servant who thinks of look term is unlikely to indulge in corruption
Legality	conformity with laws & statuettes	Upholding legality is a fundamental duty of CS
Conflict of Interest	situation where pax potentially can't take impartial decision for s/he will be affected by decision			I delegated the CV from my hostel to other colleagues for recruitment shortlisting	SC judge recused himself from Parambir case  Karnataka HC judge recused himself from hearing a case involving a builder who tried to bribe him       DM being Mining Officer and head of EIA team
Psycophancy	excessive flattery (of ind. of imp.) to derive personal benefits	Public officials- nepotism, transfer, honesty, objectivity, political neutrality       Politics- Sycophancy by political workers leads to separation between leader and common people - creates a wedge causing misgovernance		classmate bridged marks gap under CCE by excessive flattery at school- got similar GPA
Ethical Dilemma	situation where there exist competing ethical values and decision making becomes difficult	Dilemmas involve choosing between 2 bad choice, but it is reason/ ethics/ integrity /… that helps to choose the one less worse		Killling a caged gorilla in zoo to protect a fallen girl child       code to automate processes and kill jobs or to sit idle/doing unproductive work @ office
Acts of Double Effect	acts that lead to both good or bad
Passion	strong, barely controllable emotion	Positive - Passion to study, work towards goal     Negative - Lust, Passion for money - Greed		my passion for innovation- hackathons, research papers, projects
Trait	distinguishing quality (unique to pax)	Positive - Enhances the personal level of happiness with societal welfare       Eg Benevolence, Compassion, Courage, Empathy , all positive values :P
Humility	low view of one's importance  shouldn't place ourselves on higher pedestal     doesn't mean debasement or denying one's talents, merits, accomplishments	the fact that one has greater talents and means than others indicates that one has greater responsibilities towards them     unless CS cultivate humility, they will be unable to show concern and consideration towards problems of common people  •should regard their duty as service to people  •shouldn't regard themselves as bosses or rulers  •trustees of power which is ultimately derived from people	"Humility is a strange thing. The minute you think you have got it, you've lost it"- ED Hulse     "Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away"- Tom Broakan     "Don't think of yourself so high that others start looking small"- Confucious
Temperance	trait of avoiding excesses, human cravings- food, drink, sex etc.	promotes self-control, checks rash impulses     abstinence, chastity, sobriety; includes moderation
Vices	immoral, degrading practice, behavior		"before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves" - Confucius

  

 

  

  

Other Values 

  

VALUE	MY MEANING	ELABORATION	EXPERIENCE	EXAMPLES
Responsibility     Be the Change that you want to see in the world	being accountable for something  being responsible for one's conduct		took responsibility for lapses in event management for junior's misconduct	Navy Chief DK Joshi resigned after mishap in naval submarine (INS Sindhuratna)     Suresh Prabhu resigned owning up to responsibility for lapses     Vikram Sarabhai took responsibility of failed PSLV launch
Power     The measure of a man is what he does with power- Plato	ability to get others to do what you want thru myriad means (from brutal suppression to subtle persuasion)	Gandhi asserts the need to bind power and morality-  •victory obtained thru violence is temporary  •need to win hearts and minds     power invariably leads to corruption, abuse and oppression     democracies control the likely dangers of misuse of power thru institutional arrangements     Theory of Social Contract is origin of state (Rousseau)-   rulers shouldn't become despotic and oppress people since their powers are derived from people  •men live in free state before emergence of govt.- lacked security, civic facilities, means of developing trade & commerce  •to secure such benefits, they seceded part of their rights, powers thru contract  •rights may not be linked to morality but they proved a moral dimension to framework of political governance     Power & Morality-  •Lenin considered that morality should be subordinated to ideology of proletarian revolution  •Maoism- Political power grows out the barrel of a gun  •Machiavelli discarded political idealism (grounded in morality) to political realism
Self-Doubt	questioning own beliefs, actions and thoughts, decisions			Steve Jobs overcame his self-doubts and invented the personal computer
Nationalism        Patriotism	national consciousness exalting one nation above all others     love, support & loyalty towards nation			While the nation at large was celebrating the hard earned independence, Gandhiji was visiting ,fasting, praying and mediating to stop the burgeoning riots in the border areas
Prudence	govern with reason, experience  shrewdness in management of affairs  good judgement in resource use  caution to risk/danger	avoiding rashness, recklessness, needless risk taking, sticking to well trodden path  but Herd behaviour is antithetical to prudence. e.g. Race for wealth, consumerism -> need critical thinking     avoiding extreme positions, adopting moderate courses of action     Aristotle believed that no moral virtue comes into play w/out prudence  •skill which enables one to identify virtue (golden mean), pursue it i.e. practical wisdom and sense of moderation  •lest justice becomes vindictiveness, clemency becomes weakness
Altruism     Action is morally right if consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except the agent- Auguste Comte	unselfish concerns for welfare of others	criticism-   hinders individuals's pursuit of self-devt., excellence and creativity		Anna Hazare  •socio-env. (watershed mgmt.) transformation in Ralegaon Siddhi  •led IAC movement 2012
Resilience/Perseverance	capacity to recover quickly from difficulty or toughness		Jee 2nd attempt    Research paper after failures	J K Rowling - was a homeless woman - Who did not back down in spite of numerous publishing houses rejecting her novel Harry Potter       Oprah Winfrey- faced criticism about weight, race, sexuality yet never let in her way of her ambition
Simplicity	quality/condition of being easy to understand or do     having clarity in thoughts & action- no complications     being down-to-earth, humble			Mother Teressa refused to attend the banquet in her honour by the Nobel prize committee to save money for the poor        Rajendra Prasad did not alllow his family members to stay in Rashtrapati Bhawan knowing the impermanence of office and permanence of greed     Kiran Bedi as Guv refunded ad expenditure on public function from own money

superstition- any belief or practice, which is explained by supernatural casuality, not based on human reason or scientific knowledge