The word “ethics” is said to derive from the Greek word “ethos” - which many sources define as “character,” which many claim originates from within.  While others insist “'character' is caught, not taught, or innate.”  By now you may be ready to move on.  I implore you to stay a few moments more.  We believe a great confusion is about to be cleared up that may serve you well down the road.

There are many legal scholars who insist that “ethics” is derived by combining ethos and the Latin word “mores” (from which we derive the word “moral”) or “customs.”  Thus the combined meanings of character blended with customs produces "ethics."  What this seems to be saying is that so-called "ethical behavior" is caused from both internal and external forces.  In reality, these meanings have produced a great confusion that has affected governance, the law, justice, and most assuredly social behavior in general.

It's this very confusion of meanings that permeates all our understanding of social behavior.  It's the same confusion that lets a nation justify killing using the mantel of "moral certainty."  In the famous Nuremberg War Criminal trials after WWII, a great many acts - which were committed under a wide variety of moral certainties - such as the killing of the Jews, and even the dropping of the atom bombs - were considered UNETHICAL.  A new definition of ethics then emerged.  Thousands of pages of testimony created a dramatic split between morals and ethics.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this new understanding of terms, which states in no uncertain terms that ethics and morals are NOT the same, nor should they be mixed at all, has captured any of the professions, nor science, nor the government.  History has proven that ethics comes from within, morals from without.  Thus adultery is not a so-called moral problem, but rather an ethical problem.  A problem of the character within.  A problem of non-consideration of the other.  "An abolishment of the other's interest."

This confusion of meanings between morals and ethics produced such events as Watergate, the deceptive circumvention of Congress by high level officials during the Contra debacle, the lying and deception by literally thousands of government employees - many at the highest levels - under the mantel of “moral certainty” during the development of the atom bomb.  This confusion of meanings was recently revealed again with the deception of Congress by the CIA over the recent destruction of videotapes of interrogation techniques - to gain the victory at all costs - and which is now being written about as “unethical behavior by the CIA.”

Ethical behavior is innate.  We believe it's built into our DNA.  But like our imaginative powers, ethical behavior can be stunted or shrivelled up to the point where it no longer operates in us.  Ethical behavior can be identified as the highest level of behavior man can achieve.  Mores, or morals, on the other hand, can indeed be understood as merely acceptable behavior based on some community standard derived from a thousand sources (as we span the globe).  It can be behavior that manifests the lowest levels of man's potential.  But whether in the jungles of Guiana or the boardrooms in San Francisco, ethical behavior is recognized as the highest level in which man can socially function.  In other words, EVERYONE benefits from genuine ethical behavior - including the one carrying out the behavior.  For the behavior - the act itself - exhibits complete harmony with all others - including the other living systems on the planet.  Since ALL others are affected by the results of the behavior.

People who behave ethically often stand out as uncooperative.  They say "no" often.  They're often people who would rather be dead than behave according to acceptable standards when those standards are unethical.  They're often astonished at how easy people at the highest levels of society behave unethically.  Many ethical people are now at the lowest point in their lives as they observe the current world scene.  And yet, as everything accelerates faster and faster, there's hope in the air that soon a great convulsion in society will propel it in new and more ethical directions.

In our next post we’ll explore ethical behavior as it relates to mind and emotions, and how all of this translates to the ethics behind the Packit Toilet kit.