Gandhian Perspective on Ethical Governance and Society
| Date | 01 July 2013 |
| Author | Anil Dutta Mishra |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120130320 |
| Published date | 01 July 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
GANDHIAN PERSPECTIVE ON
ETHICAL
GOVERNANCE AND SOCIETY
ANIL DUTTA
MISHRA
Ethics cannot be shaped
and
sustained in isolation. The
heuristic process required a supportive environment
in
which
public opinion plays a significant part. In every field
of
activity,
the components
of
ethical conduct have
to
be identified and
its dynamics worked out. Efficiency, economy, effectiveness,
equity and equality
of
treatment, transparency, purity, neutral,
and excellence, among others, are deeuied
to
be commonly
the ingredients essential to the conduct
of
public life. Ethics
in more general terms deals with moral duty and obligation.
Thus,
ethics becomes a tool
for
searching moral standards.
The utility
of
ethics rests on the fact that it requires one to
reason, to analyse and
to
search
for
morally correct position
while taking a decision
or
pursuing a particular course
of
action. Ethics, as an academic area, is a branch
of
philosophy.
The philosophers have studied and argued about ethics
for
centuries. But our concern here is to relate the term ethics
particularly in the context
of
Gandhi.
ETHICS
IS
a widely used term. One
of
the upshots
of
such wide usage
of
the term is the diverse ways in which it has been looked at. Viewed broadly,
ethics and morals have been used interchangeably. The rationale
of
such
use is that both the terms have been derived etymologically from Latin and
Greek words respectively with the same meaning.
It
has also been
understood that to define ethics one needs first to talk about morality and
values. Morality is concerned with those practices and activities that are
considered right or wrong, it is also concerned with the values those
practices reflect and the rules through which they are carried out within a
given setting. Morality in effect, includes a number
of
values that are
reflected in laws, rules and regulations or in policies or procedures. Value
comprises a moral flavour in the sense that they carry an individual's ideas
as to what is right, good or desirable. Values, to a large extent, would an
individual's notions about morality and ethics. In other words, values,
646 I INDIAN JOURNAL
OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
VOL. L/X, NO.
3,
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2013
morality and ethics are interrelated and cannot be understood in isolation
of
one another.
Encyclopedia
of
the Social Sciences defines ethics as "the organisation
or criticism
of
conduct in terms
of
notions like good, right or welfare
...
Ethics is the
secular
and critical
manner
of
taking account
of
the
rationalising process in conduct. Its temper is non-mystical, and its
orientation
is
social rather than theological" .1 The New Encyclopedia
of
Britannica defines ethics as "the branch
of
philosophy that is concerned
with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong; a synonym for it is
moral philosophy. Traditionally, ethics has undertaken to analyse, evaluate,
and develop normative moral criteria for dealing with moral problems ...
".2
"Ethics" and "ethical" are often used synonymously with "morals" (or
morality) and "moral", as when reference is made indifferently to the ethics
or to the morality
of
a person or a group, to their ethical or moral virtues or
qualities. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ethics
as
the science
of
morals or moral principles.
It
is very often used as a synonym
or
even an
interchangeable expression for term like values, norms, standards, morality,
etc. The word 'ethics' is defined
as
"the discipline dealing with what is good
and bad and with normal duty and obligations".3 Thus, personal ethics has
been referred to as "the rules by which an individual lives his or her personal
life", and accounting ethics pertains to "the code that guides the professional
conduct"
of
persons engaged in various activities. Business ethics is
concerned with truth and justice and has a variety
of
aspects: market, society,
corporate behaviour et.al. All the three types
of
ethics are interrelated and
that each is the manifestation
of
other in Gandhian perspective.
Ethics in Gandhian paradigm has no narrow religious, sectarian
or
creedal implications. Ethics is something like electricity, not apparent to
the naked eye, but felt instantaneously in specific conditions and visible
when power is switched on. It has something to do with the sense
of
right
and wrong -what is permissible, what is not done. Ethics has several
attributes, some
of
which are universalistic in nature, while others are also
bound by time and place.
It
may be specific to a particular task situation,
profession
or
area
of
responsibility. Certain things are expected from
everyone while there may be a few specific things expected according to
the nature
of
groups
or
responsibilities. Ethics is something related to a
state
of
mind,
or
a way
of
looking at things which may develop
_into
a
pattern
of
behaviour or way
of
life and social conduct. One's values may
1Encyclopedia
of
the Social Sciences.
2The New Encyclopedia·
of
Britannica.
3
0xford
English Dictionary.
To continue reading
Request your trial