Philosophy
Introduction
Life in this world is a peaceful, blissful, and beautiful being whose ultimate aim is colored and coated with different elements and shades of challenges in a multiple ways. These layers of elements and shades are physical and metaphysical which reflects consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously an idea of creative and illuminated human minds. So, the knowledge and beauty of existence of life lies in grooming and conditioning minds systematically for a peaceful and purposeful life. In addition, a human mind needs to awaken oneself to become deeply conscious of the metaphysical elements such as peace, love, respect, and tolerance. Such a positive temperament helps a human being understand the nuances of life and become enlightened in life so that human mind can lead a good and peaceful life. But, this can happen when a human being comprehends and realizes the solemn beauty of the existence of life. Though the definition of life is indescribable, unutterable, unspeakable in limited words, there is a need to explore the solemn sanctity of finding the roots of leading an ideal life with value-based ethics.
Ethics are a set of principles that implies conducting a rightful behaviour. The term "Ethics" is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which means custom or character. A conduct which is termed normal within a society can be termed abnormal by other societies living across the world. Again, what is right is also very different for female and its male counterparts in many civilizations including the one to which we belongs. Many times, we face a moral dilemma that whether we are bound to conduct in a way dictated by the society in which we are living or we can do the one that we feel is right at that point of time.
Ruth Benedict and Gilligan are some of the great women thinkers who give a new vision to this world through their deep thinking and reasoning ability in the field of ethical philosophies. Here, I am going to discuss about Ruth Benedict’s “Anthropology and the Abnormal” and Gilligan’s article “Moral Orientation and Moral Development in detail. The moral domain always about right and wrong or we can say good or bad. What is considered normal and what is abnormal behaviour can be a matter of great discussion. The opinions are different among different philosophers, yet Ruth and Gilligan has done some commendable work that throws a fresh light on this subject. Thus, despite of the fact that both the thinkers, come up with different theories about ethical philosophy, both of their works are deeply interlinked.
Ruth Benedict is one of the pioneer anthropologists famous for her work “patterns of culture". She has a deep understanding of the human behaviour and is the author of six great books. Born in 1887 in the United States, she does her bachelor degree from Vassar College and PhD from the Columbia University. Later, she was appointed as a professor in the same university as a faculty of Political Science in 1948. Ruth gets addicted to anthropology at a later stage of her life when one of her professor Franz Boas, hugely encouraged to study in this discipline.
The main accomplishment of Ruth is that she ably dissolves the boundaries existing between anthropology, psychology and sociology. She also serves the Chair of the Anthropology Department for the period 1936-1939 and was the editor of the Journal of American Folklore. She was also a poet and often writes under the pseudo name of Anne Singleton. She got elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and gained the status of a full working professor just months before her death in 1948.
Carol Gilligan is a more contemporary one in compared to Ruth. Born in the same city of New York in 1936, she is still considered much ahead of her time in terms of rational thinking and analytical reasoning. She explores the moral problems that influence the behaviour of a woman throughout her life. As a psychologist, she conducts extensive research in this regard. As an under graduate Carol study literature and then gets a masters in psychology. After which, she completes her PhD in the same discipline in 1964 from Harvard University.
It was during her stint at Harvard as a teacher, she get interested into the study of the moral dilemma that girls have to face in their everyday lives. While assisting Lawrence Kohlberg on a research work on theory of moral development, she focuses on this aspect more attentively. She served as a professor at Cambridge University and later at New York University in 2002. She is the proud recipient of many awards like Grawemeyer Award for Education, Heinz Award for Human Condition and many more. She is now a visiting professor in the University of Cambridge.
Body
Man is a social animal. He is expected to abide by the rules and norms of a culture to which he belongs. Any deviation from the standard behaviour is considered abnormal. However, this notion differs from one culture to another throughout the world. According to noted authors Gupta and Ferguson “A culture, whether pictured as a semiotic system to be deciphered or as a text to be read required description”(p. 1) We generally associated culture with a tribe, a society and sometimes to an entire nation. However, it is difficult to acknowledge the culture differs greatly even within a nation and some ethnic groups have their own cultural beliefs that seem a completely abnormal to us with customary modern beliefs. According to David Sue and et al “Every society or group that shares and transmits behaviours to its members possesses a culture. European Americans, African Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and other social groups within the United States have cultures.”(p.10) In her work “Anthropology and the Abnormal” Ruth beautifully uncovers the truth through a variety of examples.
For example, as Ruth underlines the point in some cultures, abnormality is the corner-stone of the existing culture. According to a recent study, some of the ethnic tribal groups of North-West Melanesia have some shocking cultural beliefs like black magic, witchcraft, etc. What we think of an acceptable behaviour seems craziness in this tribe in Fiji. A person who is caring and compassionate or hardworking is in fact immoral and unsocial. However, the most shocking element that Ruth pinpoints is their first expression to grief over someone’s death. A tribal chief or any tribe member is free to murder any bystander if he or she is in a state of utter grief due to loss of any relative due to natural or unnatural death. Even a good garden crop is looked upon as confession of theft and there exists no mutual trust between any two people. In modern society, for most of us this is an insane behaviour which is not justified at all. A normal belief is that an abnormal behaviour can be cured or rectified by a therapy. However, societies where this type of behaviour is not only justified but encouraged, there left little room for any kind of cure.
Furthermore, one should not try to show the color of dominance and supremacy because the dilemma of dominance is dangerous and disturbing for the peaceful and purposeful life. While leading a good life, one should not adopt illicit, unfair and unjust means to possess power, wealth, respect, and position. Finally, it should be realized that one should endeavor to make your soul and mind free from hunger for any physical things of life, and procure the fruits of success and happiness d by being the integral parts of others’ success, achievement, happiness, and glory. All these attributes have the properties of being bold, confident, true, and rational.
Keeping the aforesaid facts into life, it can be broadly generalized that life of a human being a time span bounded by two events- birth and death. Each living being has a life and it holds good even for plants and animals. Life in a way is the basic difference between a non-living and living object. As far as the concept of good or bad is concerned, it is a relative and abstract term that cannot be measured by the limits of any standard. Among all the living-being in this domain of universe, man is the only species who has the ability to think and judge distinction between a good life and a bad one.
There are many cultures in which disfigurement of the female genitals is still considered normal in many cultures existing all over the world. More than 28 countries have still this practice within the families. Most of the countries are in Africa, Asia and Middle East. This is conducted to protect virginity and before the age of 15, almost all girls are bound to have this excuriating pain. Although, the practice is declared illegal, the cultural beliefs just don’t allow the practice to face any death. According to a report published in the International Family Planning Perspectives (June 2001), for some ethnic groups in Sudan, uncircumcised women are impure and unclean. They are even not marriageable and thus Sudanese women also accept this as a necessary operation and very natural.
It is sad but a glaring truth that what is normal and what is abnormal is mainly dictated by a dominant culture. According to David Sue and et al “Multiculturalists contend that all behaviours, whether normal or abnormal, originate from a cultural context. Psychologists are increasingly recognizing that this is an inescapable conclusion and that culture plays a major role in our understanding of human behaviour”. (p.9) If this is not the case, then for many incidents in the modern history, people will not stay clueless. According to Ruth “The problem of understanding abnormal human behaviour in any absolute sense independent of cultural factors is still far in the future.”
We all have our own perception of how we can be happy. Many of us think that wealth would make us happy. In addition, many of us think also think that power, comfort, luxury, and sex can make us happy. Some of us have an opinion that every task around us is a competition, and victory would satisfy us which is generally victory over someone else. But, this is not the truth. Simply put, according to our priority, if we or our people possess their desired material things, or do what satisfies them, then it is treated as a happy life.
Another contemporary issue is of moral orientation and development which is differs from one gender to another. According to Carol Gilligan, there is a major gender difference when it comes to moral orientation within a society. However, before going into the details, it is important to understand what we mean by moral orientation and moral development. The culture of a society greatly influences the moral orientation and development of a child. Moral orientation is more about how an individual perceives a situation and judged it moral or immoral. Certainly, the cultural beliefs and values play a huge role in his judgement.
Moral development can also be developed at late childhood due to various factors. However, the main thing that Carol finds very annoying that some thinkers believe girls to be of fewer morals than boys. This is certainly a case of strong gender biasness and Carol strongly objected to such theories. While working with the noted American psychologist, Kohlberg, Carol come across his views that girls are less morally developed than boys. She does extensive research and establishes the fact that personal caring is more important for girls than justice or other set of high morals preferred by boys. Her work inspired other psychologists to make subsequent adjustments in their research studies.
During the 1960s and 70s there were many female psychologists who ascertain that women are psychological not inferiors than their male counterparts. The problem is that women are always ignored in any research studies and the logical theories are often developed by men. In one of her international best seller, Caro asserts that “A truly moral person would always consider another person as their equal In a situation of social interaction, something is morally wrong where the individual ends up screwing a lot of people”(p. 64) She feels that Kohelberg give more importance to white men and boys in comparison to girls while researching for his theory of moral development. She conducts her theory in three stages of moral development which starts from being selfish, then to social morality and finally reaching the pinnacle of principled morality. She strongly believes that women do not judge things or actions as men do because they are more exposed or subjected to complexities of relationships.
According to Gilligan, it is possible for women to gain personal independence like men, if they forget the moral ethics taught to them since childhood of sacrificing their own interests for the sake of their husband, children, parents, etc. She believes that women are helpful by nature and loves to care about others. This is something inherent to their nature and men should see this as a case of moral development. In fact the need for education is equally felt by men and women, but women sacrifice their own aspirations and comforts for the sake of others in their course of life. They are supposed to behave in this way and still men considered them inferior in terms of moral development.
However, people face moral dilemmas often in their lives when they have to choose between right and wrong. While men give more importance to justice while taking any decision to overcome this dilemma, women think from a different perspective. They give more importance to their care and compassion for their family and others. Thus, the path of moral orientation and development varies between the two genders, but does not imply that women have fewer morals.
Conclusion
This is easy to reach to this conclusion that both the women thinkers give a new vision to people all over the world by their landmark theories on anthropology and moral orientation. Ruth rightly points out that whether a society is normal or not is mainly definable through its cultural traits. These set up certain behaviour as normal or abnormal. There can be a great variation in cultural perspectives, views and beliefs. Some beliefs and behaviours by certain tribal sects and of mainstream civilization are shockingly abnormal as per the modern culture. However, the norms are again different for male and female in cultural beliefs and dictates. It will be wrong to say that women are inferior in moral development than men as the moral orientation is different in women. It is vital that we stop judging the morality of a person on some abstract parameters. Instead, the ethics of care and justice should be learned to understand that how people in both the genders have different perspectives on a given situation to get happiness and peacefulness.
In view of the aforesaid facts of happiness and good ness, it is safely argued to assume and believe the importance of contentment, peace, satisfaction in redefining the meaning of life. A man’s heart can think and surely knows better than his brain. So, fundamental of argument on good and meaningful life suggests believing in doing something what is liked by his heart, soul, and mind. It is important to remember that this life is given to us by the God to lead a happy, healthy, free, independent, and prosperous under all conditions. And, no one has the right to take away this privilege. Further, the fact cannot be denied fact that human being is biologically, geographically, religiously, culturally, and economically different, but the ultimate objective of life for all, is to lead a qualify life coated with thick layer of goodness. Based on what I have shared my perception and conception in this essay on goodness of life, my personal opinion for you is to create a conducive environment of peace, independence, and justice for all of us. Believe it or not, this message of universal equality and justice will only give us true happiness.
Works Cited
- National Women’s Hall of Fame. Available from <http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/214-Benedict>
- A Defence Of Ethical Relativism. Available from <http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/heathwood/pdf/benedict_relativism.pdf>
- Gupta, Akhil & Ferguson, James. Culture, Power, Place: Explorations in Critical Anthropology. United States of America: Duke University Press, 2001. Print.
- Sue, David. Sue, Wing. Derald. Sue, Stanley. Understanding Abnormal Behavior: Ninth Edition. Canada: Cengage Learning, 2010.Print.
- General Psychology. Available from <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsymoraldev.html>
- Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. United States of America: Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data, 2003. Print.
- Theories of Life Stages and Human Development. Available from <http://humangrowth.tripod.com/id2.html?
