Need help constructing an ethical framework for yourself?

 If you are currently on a "spiritual" or ethical journey of discover, I encourage you to consider Humanism as an option.

At some point in life, we all have to decide what sort of person we want to be. We need to figure out what we believe about life, the universe and everything. And we need to sort out our ethical framework for ourselves.

Often, we adopt what we were taught as children, but as we grow, we start to question whether what we were taught really makes sense or works for us. So we start reading and exploring to learn what others before us thought about and what approach they took to deal with the enormity of it all and the problem of existence.

My son, who is currently 15 going on 16, is asking these questions for himself right now.  I've given him a reading list of various philosophers from various traditions so he can work through this for himself.  And he does have to do this for himself.  He has to test assumptions and given wisdom to see if it makes sense for himself before he adopts it as his own.

What I know from experience though, is that most people who go through this journey - end up at something akin to Humanism. And often, eventually - Humanism.

Most philosophies and isms are people's attempts to answer the great questions in life.  That's why it's helpful to read philosophy from a variety of different standpoints.

Why people keep arriving at Humanism is because Humanism is essentially the consensus on what the various philosophies have concluded are the best answers to the big questions of life. 

Honestly, you can probably save yourself a lot of heartache, if you just read about Humanism first.  Then, as you read through the various disciplines and philosophies, you will start to recognize the common threads that run through all of them.  It really will save you quite a bit of time and anxiety if you consider Humanism as a possibility first. 

I don't say this to convert you to Humanism as there is no such thing. It's more a matter of experience as a teacher of humanism for decades now. Understanding what Humanism is - will help you get more out of all of your other readings and experiences by orienting you to look for the common human elements in all of the ethical and spiritual systems you explore as you ponder the question - what does it mean to be a good human being. 

Understanding a little bit about Humanism as a philosophy and ethical life stance and it's history will aid your personal exploration and journey through philosophy and ethical framework options by helping you understand your journey, while unique, is not unique. As long as there have been humans, there have been humans pondering the same questions you are pondering now. And I find that comforting. 

Here are some resources to help you get started: http://humanisthappiness.blogspot.com/2021/05/learning-about-humanism.html

I also offer online programs - some free and some for a fee - you may find helpful. https://humanistlearning.com/category/lifeskills/philosophy/

I do recommend one course in particular. Yes, it is for a fee, but think of this like you are purchasing a book, except, you get to ask questions of the author.  https://humanistlearning.com/livingmadesimpler1/ 

 

Need help constructing an ethical framework for yourself?

 Most people want to be ethical, and actually are ethical, but still feel like they struggle with ethics. It doesn't have to be that way. 

I get the impression when I talk to people, that they feel like they need permission to think about ethics, to discuss ethics, or to apply ethics in their lives. I spend a lot of my time, giving people permission to be explicitly ethical.

When I wrote my first book, The Humanist Approach to Happiness, my mother asked me if I really wanted the book to be explicitly humanist. After all, I did not want to proselytize.  (https://humanistlearning.com/the-humanist-approach-to-happiness-book/)   I told her that I did because I felt that it would be dishonest to talk about Humanist ethics without being explicit about where the ethics I hold come from and more importantly why.

My goal was never to convince people to become Humanists. Instead, I hoped by sharing my ethical reasoning, it would help them consider their own. Do they agree? Or not? If they don't agree, what do they think a more ethical solution would be?  

By being open about my own ethical thinking, I give permission to others to be open about their ethical thinking, even if it is different from mine.

If this is an area you struggle with, let me help you.  Often, just reading about others ethical thoughts, helps you think, do I agree or not. Once you do that, you become aware of your own ethical thinking and you can more actively start applying it to your decision making processes in all areas of your life.

I've already mentioned my book: https://humanistlearning.com/the-humanist-approach-to-happiness-book/ 

But really, any book about the Humanist philosophy will do. https://humanistlearning.com/category/shop/humanism101/

I also offer a variety of ethical life skills programs. I recommend Living Made Simpler as an indepth 6 hour program to really take you step by step through how the philosophy can be applied to every day life.  - https://humanistlearning.com/category/lifeskills/philosophy/

Giving Voice to Your Values

 I had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Gentile for the Teaching Teachers to Teach Values program for the International Humanistic Management Association. 

As this involves giving voice to your values and because I am all about giving voice to values - specifically humanistic values, I wanted to share what I learned from her here.

In her presentation, Ms. Gentile pointed out that a lot of what Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is about, is asking and answering different questions. For instance, instead of asking what the right thing to do is, ask how you can do the right thing.  Then, practice saying whatever it is you are going to say.  The purpose is to give people practice at acting ethically in ethically challenging situations.  This is like creating muscle memory through repetition so that when someone is challenged, they will behave ethically even if their mind is scared. 

To teach these, she focuses on clear cut ethical situations. She then poses the question, how do you get the right thing done. This is about behaving ethically, not just thinking critically about ethical behavior.  It is for the pragmatists who want to be ethical, but aren't sure if they can be effective if they speak up and give voice to their values. By helping them practice this, it helps them see themselves behaving ethically and by their values in difficult situations.

This does work cross culturally. She focuses on what she calls Hypernorms, or Super values, that are shared with all humans. The cultural differences are about what unethical behavior is tolerated in each culture and how and whether people tolerate it or speak up about it. The training on this is to help people imagine what they would do if they could to combat unethical behavior. 

When she teaches this in a cross cultural environment she does 5 things.

• Acknowledge the reality of the local culture and the problems with being ethical in that culture
• Respect those difference and the fact that most people are NOT thrilled with whatever the reality is.
• Conduct thought experiments on what if you could do something to change that, what would that be?
• She provides real life examples from that culture or nation of someone who has confronted the unethical culture successfully. This helps give people a sense of pride and that yes, WE can do it, whoever the WE is.
• She explains the metaphor of using one's voice doesn't necessarily mean - yelling or ranting. It can be many things. It's about giving voice to YOUR values and encouraging you to think of ways to handle difficult situations with your ethics intact and then to practice them. 

Her websites have free resources

https://www.ignited.global/ihma/blog/mary-gentile-giving-voice-values-teaching-teachers-teach-values-video 

Ethical Frameworks

In order to be ethical you need to behave ethically. To behave ethically, you have to know what the ethical thing to do is and that requires you to be able to make ethical decisions.

Ethical frameworks provide support and guidance for ethical decision making by enabling the important aspects of the situation to be highlighted and evaluated. If you don’t have an ethical framework, making ethical decisions is nearly impossible. You might behave ethically, but it would be accidental.

Ethics is about what is good and what is bad. It involved making a choice. This is good, that is bad. To be able to make those judgements requires you to have values. Helping people is good, hurting people is bad is an example of a compassion based value.

One of the most famous ethical frameworks is the Bible’s 10 Commandments. Thou Shalt Not Kill, covet, commit adultery, lie, or steal. You should honor your parents and take days off now and again.  Yes, that’s only 7. The other three aren’t really about ethics.

So let’s say we all agree on these 7.  Where things get tricky is when they are in conflict with one another.  Is it ok to lie to prevent a murder?  Only if you value not killing more than you value not lying.

The ranking or prioritizing of your values is what transforms a set of ethical values into an ethical framework.  The more you think about what it is you value the more you are able to prioritize your values ahead of time so that when you are called upon to make an ethical decision, your ethical framework will help you find clarity.

Ethical decision making is rarely about whether something is good or bad. It’s the ability to decide between the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils.

To learn more about ethical frameworks  - consider taking Living Made Simpler – my 6 hour online course on applied Humanism