Part Two
The premiss we Moral Philosophers (using the new parradigm for Ethics) start with is: Make things better! This is the axiom for human development. [For details see the first Reference listed below, namely, The Structure of Ethics.]
There are two components to this.
- Make it better for yourself.
- Make it better for others.
In order to make it better for yourself your behavior is to more-and-more approximate your image of your ideal self. This happens as you learn more of the moral principles and devote yourself to living them in practice,
You also better yourself as you come to know yourself, to accept yourself as you are (with all your flaws and weaknesses), yet you make the conscious choice to be true to your best self. Then you are to create yourself (i.e., develop your talents, gifts, and capacities.) And then you give yourself. (Express for the world these gifts.) That is the process for truly bettering yourself in this world.
Many kids growing up, if they have not inherited wealth from their parents or guardians, would like to have, to have some money or the things that money can buy. What they need to learn is:
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Before you can have you need to do. What does that mean? Before you can have money you need to accomplish something that society finds to be valuable.
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Before you do, you need to be. That is to say, before a person can really accomplish something one needs to be true to one’s true self. How? The answer is to keep improving morally throughout one’s lifetime.
What is involved in moral improvement toward the goal of becoming one’s ideal self? It is simple: the more one gains knowledge of moral principles, and the more one lives up to them, one is evolving morally. These principles are not rules; they are merely guidelines.
One may ask: guidelines to what? They are guidelines to a smooth, well-lived life – a trouble-free life, a life with as little aggravation as possible.
Questions? Comments? Observations?
…To be continued …