Understanding Myths, Knowledge, Ethics, and Moral Dilemmas
Myths: Understanding Their Role in Society
A myth is a knowledge-based, legendary story, ritualized and literally transmitted, mainly orally. Myths explain the origin, organization, and fate of an ethnic community, as well as natural phenomena relevant to the community’s existence. They are anthropomorphic and animistic explanations of a symbolic nature. Myths establish performance standards to be followed as rules or orders, allowing for social organization. In civilized countries, there was a transformation of myths into ideologies, which are sets of ideas and values, historically and culturally conditioned, used by a society or social group to interpret reality.
Natural vs. Cultural Knowledge
Natural knowledge is acquired through generations and is characteristic of all animal species. In humans, these are called universal behaviors. Cultural knowledge, on the other hand, is acquired through social interaction, is artificial, and is specific to humans, without prejudice to the existence of animal cultures.
Ethical Values and Moral Principles
Ethical values are a set of standards or moral and ideological principles that govern the behavior of a person or company.
- Due Obedience: This can be a cause of legal defense, usually referring to the military, and involves obeying a superior.
- Magic: Characterized by secret knowledge, it is a unique domain of witches and shamans whose social status is based on their perceived control over nature. Magic coexists with myth.
- Laws, Moral and Legal Standards: Moral standards are rules or sets of rules to be followed to perform an action because it is considered right. A legal act is a legal rule laid down by the legislature, a principle established by the competent authority, i.e., justice.
A Moral Dilemma: The Fisherman’s Choice
A man was fishing on a beach when suddenly a boat with 18 people on board approached the coast. The immigrants jumped ship, attempting to hide before the police could discover them. The man has always cooperated with the law. He took out his mobile phone to call the police but ultimately was unsure if he should, given the situation at the border. The values that come into conflict are respect for life, liberty, solidarity, and equality. The controversy has two possible solutions:
- Option A: Notify the police, restraining the liberty of the immigrants.
- Option B: Let them go, respecting the right to equality.
Kantian Ethics: A Foundation for Modern Morality
Kantian ethics is characterized by the search for ethical principles with the universality found in science. To achieve these principles, Kant separated ethics into empirical ethics (all before him) and formal ethics (Kantian ethics). This new approach makes Kant the father of modern philosophy. In Kantian ethics, judgments are made by theoretical reason, and practical reason makes them mandatory. Kant used formal ethics to express this, which only tells us the form or structure that any moral standard must have. The model is the categorical imperative, which is unconditional, universal, and necessary. It is unconditional because it operates without conditions, universal because it applies to everyone, and necessary because it must be done out of consciousness, not for a reward or punishment.
People act either out of a sense of duty (goodwill). Heteronomous conduct occurs when a person acts well because they are forced by an external law or regulation, while autonomous behavior is produced by the goodwill of the person concerned.
Example of Autonomous Behavior
When you help a blind person cross the street, you are acting under your own will, i.e., you are not influenced by any rule or law, but rather by your goodwill.
Respect and Human Dignity
“It means that a person should not be considered better or worse for the qualities they possess, but we need to respect each other as we are, not based on perceived value but by the actions that distinguish us and make us worthy of true respect for ourselves and others.”