Sources of Ethics and the Common Good Approach

A source of ethics is a place where our ideas of right and wrong come from. The UPSC syllabus names some of these sources directly.

What does the syllabus say?

The Ethics paper lists “laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance”. Conscience is your inner sense of right and wrong. Laws, rules and regulations are written standards set by the state or an office.

Who else shapes our values?

The syllabus also lists the role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values. To inculcate means to build a habit step by step. A child learns honesty first at home. School and community then add to it.

Can the sources disagree?

Yes. A law may allow something that conscience rejects. A family custom may clash with a school rule. An officer then has to weigh the sources. That weighing is the heart of ethical reasoning.

What is the memory hook?

Conscience is inside you. Law is outside you. Family, society and school shape both.

People often treat ethics as another word for feelings, faith or law. A framework from Santa Clara University says each of these falls short. It is a useful list for the exam.

Is ethics the same as feelings?

No. Feelings give useful information. But some people feel bad when they do wrong, and others feel fine. Doing the right thing can also feel uncomfortable when it is hard.

Is ethics the same as religion?

No. Many people with no religion act ethically. Some religious people act unethically. Religious traditions can still set high standards, such as the Golden Rule.

Is ethics the same as following the law?

No. A good legal system carries many ethical standards. But law can drift from what is ethical. It can serve narrow groups. It can also be slow to deal with new problems.

Is ethics the same as culture or science?

No. Cultures hold both ethical and unethical customs. Science supplies data. But science alone cannot tell us what we ought to do. Something can be possible and still be wrong.

What is the memory hook?

Feelings, faith, law, custom and science all help. None of them alone settles right and wrong.

The common good approach says an action is right when it serves the shared welfare of the whole community. It looks at the community, not only at one person.

How do thinkers define it?

The idea is over two thousand years old. It appears in the writings of Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. John Rawls later defined it as “certain general conditions that are…equally to everyone’s advantage”. Put simply, it means the systems and institutions that everyone depends on should work for everyone.

Can you give examples?

Examples include a public health system, public safety, a just legal system and an unpolluted environment. A flourishing economy is another. Think of clean air. Everyone breathes it, and no one can easily be shut out of it.

Does the common good happen by itself?

No. It needs the cooperation of many people. A park stays clean only if each user picks up after themselves. Social conditions also need citizens to do their part.

Who must think about the common good?

A philosophy encyclopedia notes that most of us agree legislators and civil servants must decide by the common good. That makes it central to this exam.

What is the memory hook?

Common good means shared conditions that work for all. Clean air is the model.

The most influential view is Aristotle’s. He saw a political community as more than a trade deal or a military pact.

What did Aristotle say about citizens?

He said citizens share a bond like friendship. They wish one another well. They know their fellow citizens wish them well. They also take part in a shared life that answers to this mutual concern.

What follows from that bond?

A well-ordered society, on his view, has shared facilities. These can be material, cultural or institutional. Roads, schools and courts are modern examples. Together they let citizens live a good life.

What is public life and what is private life?

Public life is the shared effort to maintain such facilities. Private life is each person’s pursuit of their own projects. The common good is the link between the two. It asks when we must put the shared interest first.

Who else holds this view?

Plato and the natural law thinker John Finnis hold related views. Many Catholic thinkers do too.

What is the memory hook?

Aristotle: citizens are like friends. Friends keep up shared facilities.

Both look beyond one person. But they work in different ways.

What does utilitarianism do?

Utilitarianism is a results-based approach. It picks the action with the greatest balance of good over harm for as many people as possible. It adds up the goods of each individual. Bentham and Mill started this idea.

What does the common good lens do?

It treats life in community as a good in itself. It says our actions should add to that life. It looks at the web of relationships in society. It asks for respect and compassion for all, especially the vulnerable.

What is the key difference?

The utilitarian lens sums up goods across individuals. The common good lens stresses mutual concern for shared interests. One counts totals. The other values the bond.

What conditions does it point to?

It points to clean air and water, a system of laws, police and fire services, health care and public schools. Public recreation areas count too.

What is the memory hook?

Utilitarian adds up. Common good joins up.

The approach is attractive, yet it has hard problems. An officer should know them.

Does it respect individual rights?

It should. The philosopher John Finnis holds that respecting human rights is a requirement of justice. He calls the maintenance of human rights a fundamental part of the common good. So rights and the common good are not simple enemies.

Can it demand personal sacrifice?

Yes. Take the Watergate case in the United States. President Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to fire the special prosecutor. Richardson resigned instead. Many say he was right. His duty was to the rule of law, even at a cost to his career.

What problems does it face?

• Pluralism: People hold different ideas of the good life. So they may not agree what the common good is. Critics call the idea hard to pin down for this reason.
• Free riders: Some people enjoy the benefit and skip their share. If enough do this, the common good collapses.
• Individualism: A culture that prizes personal freedom resists sacrifice.
• Unequal burdens: Some groups pay a much larger cost. That can be unjust.

Why still use it?

It makes us ask what kind of society we want. It also asks us to see ourselves as members of a community.

What is the memory hook?

Common good needs sacrifice. Rights keep that sacrifice fair.