Mettavalokanaya_International_Buddhist_Magazine_September_2019

“Ethics adopt the
philosophical
approach”….
Ethics Connotations
and Classification….
Positive ethics, obligation ethics,
and descriptive ethics - The
rationale for why an individual or
a society actually believes how a
person should behave or live (although
it may not be realized) is called positive
ethics (or positive morality). The ideals or
principles that an individual or a society
should believe in regarding how a person
should behave or live, is called obligation
ethics (or obligation morality).
Descriptive ethics, which places
emphasis on the study of history,
anthropology or sociology, uses positive
ethics as its research object. That is, it
investigates the practical connotation
and ethical ideology of human society
in actual practice, as well as its historical
causes and social backgrounds. The
study of ethics is philosophically
inclined to go further in questioning the
reasons behind positive ethics; that is,
investigating the principles of morality.
The process may involve criticism or
reflection (and moral judgment) on
positive ethics. In other words, this is a
study that, based on its observation and
analysis of positive ethics, constructs a
theoretical system for obligation ethics.
Professor – Hsuan Chuang
University and Fu Jen
University, Head of the
Department of Religious
Studies in Hsuan Chuang
University, President
of Hong Shi Buddhist
Cultural and Educational
Foundation, Dean of the
College of Liberal Arts
Hsuan Chuang University
in Taiwan
Most Venerable
Bhikkhuni Chao
Hwei Shih
Taiwan
For example, the study of Chinese
feudal concepts of women during
the Middle Ages and its influence is
an example of descriptive ethics that
is historically inclined. To record the
practical influence of the feudal concept
of women in a particular village, or the
differences in its influences in urban
and rural areas in Taiwan at present,
is a descriptive ethics that adopts a
sociological or anthropological approach.
To further investigate the origin of
the feudal concept of women, which
may also involve rational criticism and
reflection on the ideology, is a normative
ethics and metaethics discussion, which
takes the philosophical approach.
Normative ethics and metaethics
- Normative ethics and metaethics
are two ethical studies that adopt
the philosophical approach. The
relationship between normative ethics
and metaethics are like the relationship
between a language and its grammar.
Normative ethics - Normative ethics
investigates the basic principles of the
norm of our conduct, as well as ethical
judgment in daily life when we are
confronted with morality issues. This is a
study of the wholesomeness (good) and
unwholesomeness (evil) of our conduct;
the right and wrong of our behavior.
What normative ethics wishes to discuss
is the obligation principles of the ethical
behavior. However, it is not telling us
‘what we should do’, but investigates
the various systems of thought, and the
reasoning behind why we should do it.
A concrete ethical judgment (for
example, Mr. San should not kill Mr.
Si) and an abstract moral principle (for
example, do not kill), together form an
‘ethical sentence’. Normative ethics is a
study based on the meaning of obligation
ethics, which forms and proves these
‘ethical sentences. Contemporary
analytic philosophy systematically
investigates which types of mind-sets
and behaviors are ethical and which are
not. What are the reasons behind them?
Are there adequate ethical reasons? This
study that researches the principles of
morality is called the study of normative
ethics. The study of normative ethics can
be further subdivided:
First is fundamental ethics, which
investigates the fundamental theories
of normative ethics. This includes a
set of moral rules that is complete and
applicable to everyone. These are rules
that help to justify the rightness and
wrongness of our behavior. The second
type is applied ethics, which apply moral
rules investigated by fundamental ethics
to various practical areas in life. They
help to clarify and solve specific moral
issues confronted in practical life.
Metaethics - This ethical study
takes ethical justification and morality
rules as its research objects. It is a study
that analyzes the meanings and special
characteristics of ethical phrases or
words (for example, wholesome) and
the ethical sentences formed by ethical
phrases (for example, helping others is a
wholesome act). This is called the study
of metaethics.
What metaethics is concerned
with is not the structure or proof of
ethical phrases and sentences, but
about whether these ethical phrases and
sentences can be defined. In addition, it
also examines whether moral judgment
is a subjective, emotional view or an
objective truth. In other words, it is
trying to find out whether the nature of
ethics as described by ethical phrases is
objectively real and can be recognized.
Or is it unreal, and therefore unable to
be recognized?
Metaethics developed after the
rise of the contemporary study of
analytical philosophy. The traditional
study of normative ethics already
presumed the objective values of moral
truth. Thus, what traditional normative
ethics researchers investigated was not
whether ethical principles had objective
foundations or were reasonable. Rather,
their research was based on what the
objective foundations or valid reasons
that support ethical principles are. As
such, the traditional normative ethics
researchers tended not to doubt the
pre-set objective values. They were
inclined to objectivism and neglected
the subjective implication of the moral
truth.
In this book, we will focus our
discussion on a normative ethics study
of Buddhism. We may adopt the ‘meta’
approach of analysis to explore the
ethical phrases if so needed. However,
that is not the core aim of this book.
Thus, we will not be setting aside specific
chapters for a complete and systematic
discussion of Buddhist views with
respect to a metaethics approach.
Religion, Ethics and the Study of
Religious Ethics - From ancient times to
today, ethics has not necessarily relied
on religion to exist. People who believe
in religion and people who do not
believe in religion still have their norms
of conduct on how they should live and
how they should treat others.
On the contrary, must religions,
including Buddhism, touch on issues of
ethics or morality? Or, could religions
narrow the scope of ethics and allow their
members to only concern themselves
with individual ethics (ethics that are
related to an individual’s situation in life),
and not touch on individual-public ethics
(ethics that are related to others and the
public) and environmental ethics (ethics
that are related to the world one is living
in) at all? This is what we discuss here in
this section.
In Christianity, there is a debate
over the ideas between ‘spiritualbelonging’
and ‘world-belonging’. In
Buddhism, there is also an argument
between two paths of practice, ‘other-
worldly’ or ‘world-integrated’. This is an
old, controversial topic of discussion.
However, back to our question, even
for hermits who emphasize cultivating
‘spiritual-belonging’ or ‘other-worldly’
practice, for them to stand in this
world and fulfill their wish of benefiting
themselves, they cannot avoid taking into
consideration individual-public ethics
and environmental ethics. Otherwise,
they may encounter great rejection, or
even disturbance from society. As such,
they will find themselves in difficult
situations, making it impossible to
practice in seclusion.
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