The Evolution of Ethics Eth i cal is sues have been con front ing hu - mans since pre

his toric times. So cial life is de pend ent on in ter nal reg u la tion. Re - straint and
rec i proc ity are un avoid able ex i - genc ies of soc ial livi ng. A pack of wolves will
end its in tern ec ine ght once one of them dis - plays subm is sive be hav iour
while the same pack tears apart any other ani mal that hap- pens to stray into its
ter ri tory. !n a herd of el e - phants mov ing in search of fresh veg et at ion" if a calf
hap pens to fall back or stray away" the herd will re turn" trace the strag gler and
take it along. !f the lat ter happ ens to have in #ured it - self" it will be nursed and
helped till it can again move with the group. $on keys helpi ng de louse each other
is not an un fa mil iar sight. %row-watch ers would have come across a court of
crows crow ing down or peck ing a re cal ci - trant memb er into subm is sion. All
these acts con tain rud i ments of what in hum ans is high - ly com plex eth i cal be
hav iour. !s sues in eth i cal phi los o phy as well as nor ma tive and ap plied eth ics
had en gaged think ers in many an an cient civ i li &a tion. The con cepts of dharma
and 'ta as found in the early (e dic texts and elab o rated later in the )panishads"
*rahmanas" Smritis" and +uranas com prise the old est com pre hen sive phi los o
phy of eth ics. The Ashtanga $agga of ,autama *ud dha" the moral im pera t ives
of the -aina tirt hank aras" the Tao of sim ple and wise liv ing" the .su pe rior-man/ of
cor rect be - hav iour as en vis aged by %on fu cius" and the moral spec ul a tions of
the an cient ,reek phi- los o phers0 from +y thag o ras to Soc ra tes" +lato and Ar is
totle0 all con tain so phis ti cated eth i - cal con cepts that form the bas is of much
of mod ern eth i cal thought. The sub se1 uent cen tur ies saw the growth
of two dist inct strands of eth i cal think ing2 one conn ected with spec ic rel ig ions
0 the le gal is - tic trad i tions of -ew ish ethi cs based on the 3ld Tes tam ent and !s
lamic eth ics de rived from the 4uran" the moral the ol ogy of the %hris tian %hurch"
the acharas of Sanatana 5harma guid - ed by the 5harmashastras" and so on6 the
other strand ob tained from the works of free thinke rs in post-Re nais sance Eu
rope. The ma - #or themes un der pin ning eth i cal dis cus sions und er taken by
both these strands have in - cluded the fol low ing 1ues tions2 7 hy should we be
moral8 7 hat is the source of the moral imp ulse8 !s it natu r al or pres cript ive in
ori gin8 !s mo ral ity rat io nal or emo tive8 9ow does one de cide on what is moral8
!s moral #udgem ent sub #ec tive or are there uni ver sal and ob #ec tive ele m ents
to it8 That the deb ate on these iss ues ref uses to die is proof of the para d ox i cal
na - ture of norm a tive #udge ment that oft en imp els us to de rive the .ought/
:what we should do; from the .is/ :the facts of ex is tence;" somet hing that cann ot
be logi cally supp orted" as 5av id 9ume pointed out. +rag ma tism char ac ter i&es
mod ern man" and the post-mod ern is marked by ethi cal rel - at iv ism. !t would
there fore ap pear that ab- stract theo ries of ethi cs would have litt le prac- tic al
rele v ance in tod ay/s world" and this is not totall y unt rue. <et" there is curr ently
an un- prec e dented global in ter est in ap plied eth ics as is ev i denced by the var
i ous move ments for hum an :and an i mal; rights and civil libe rt ies" the for ma
tion of var i ous .lib er a tion/ groups with their par tic u lar phi los o phies and even
the ol o gies" and the mul ti tude of ac tiv ists0 the pac i sts" the en vi ron men tal
ists and the like0 all of whom have agenda with strong ethi cal con tent. !n this
burg eoni ng eld of ap plied eth ics" bioethics" deal ing with the ethi cal is sues=
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