Ethics: Nandan Sir

Lecture I
Ethics and Human Interface
Syllabus writes that this paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and
approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem-solving
approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions
may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects.
Broad Topics To Be Covered in Lecture I
Essence/Dimensions of Ethics/Ethics in Private & Public Relationships/Human Values-
Lessons from Thinkers from India & World.
What is Ethics?
❖ Definition of Ethics & Explanation.
❖ Nature of Ethical Knowledge.
❖ Ethical Values as the Cardinal Values.
❖ Whether Ethical Values are Universal, Relative or Subjective?
❖ Essential characteristics of ethical values.
❖ The Ethics of Mahatma Gandhi
How Ought We to Create & Discover Values?
❖ Generally, people accept the prevalent notions of right & wrong and uphold
existing value system.
❖ However, these conceptions of values could be vitiated by dogmas, prejudices,
patriarchy, misogyny, bigotries & chauvinism.
❖ As a science, ethics implores us to seek justification, rather than credulously adhere
to frivolous & pseudo value systems.
❖ Ethics liberates us from stereotypes, propaganda & myths.
❖ Ethics cultivates a world-view that strives to remain impersonal, impartial, non-
partisan & inclusive.
❖ Ethical values shall be regarded as the cardinal values. The characteristics of Over-
ridingness, Imperativeness, Universalizability & Human-Welfare, make Ethical
values foundational.
❖ Ethical values should be the fountainhead of all other values. The values of other
spheres, namely, social, economic, political, legal, professional, cultural, religious &
so on, should promote ethical values in their respective ways.
What is Ethical Knowledge?
❖ Genuine Knowledge is the knowledge of foundational ethical values or Dharma
(The Supreme Law)
❖ Socrates says ‘Knowledge is virtue’. Thus, ethical knowledge is the supreme
knowledge.
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❖ Ethical knowledge consists in cultivating critical-thinking & scientific-temper.
❖ An ethical aspirant shall examine every sphere of life in a presuppositionless
manner.
❖ Ethical knowledge should be sought as a way of life by studying the Book-of-Life.
❖ An aspirant should be ready to unlearn rather than learn.
❖ Ethical knowledge is a journey, not a destination.
❖ Ethical knowledge is neither static nor absolute. Life itself is dynamic. Hence, the
knowledge of the Good Life cannot remain static. Ethical knowledge is a work on
progress.
❖ We can never acquire final & absolute knowledge.
❖ The foundational values can be interpreted as God, Truth (Satyam), Good (Shivam),
Beauty (Sundaram), Justice or Basic Structure of the Constitution. In themselves,
they can remain static, universal & eternal but our knowledge of these must evolve
progressively & scientifically.
❖ Hence, pursuit of knowledge is to develop intellectual love for
God/Truth/Good/Beauty/Justice/Constitutional Morality. Thus, True ethics, True
science, True Religion, True Politics, True Religion & True art can be essentially one
& the same.
❖ Knowledge, in every sphere, shall be sought through earnestness, perseverance,
reflection & introspection.
❖ In ancient traditions, marginalized sections were not allowed to study the
scriptures. Bharatmuni writes Natya-shastra as the fifth-Veda to enable people to
seek knowledge through the art of drama, irrespective of caste & class.
❖ Tiruvalluvar writes Tirukkural, known as Tamil-Veda. He believes Truth/God
transcends the distinctions of religion, nation & language. Truth has its own
strength. God is a universal God, not confined to a particular religion or
community. To seek Truth/God, one must rise above ‘I’ and ‘Mine’. An action must
be preceded by due deliberations. ‘Tiru’ means ‘Sacred’. Accordingly, he urges
people to seek inner freedom from inner Vices.
❖ An aspirant of Ethical Knowledge should draw inspiration from Vedic verse- ‘Truth
is one but it can manifest itself variously’.
❖ A seeker should examine the dichotomies of ‘Thesis’ & ‘Anti-thesis’, & through
dialectical approach seek ‘Synthesis’.
❖ One should follow Middle-Path to assimilate divergent views.
❖ One should cultivate General-Will to overcome vested self-interest.
❖ Our ethos of Unity-in-diversity, Vasudhaiva-Kutumbakam & Secularism are the
illustrations of syncretic world-view.
Nature of Ethical Life
❖ Ethical life should not be confused with ascetic life. Ethics does not ask us to

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 suppress aspirations. Ethics inspires us to expand & refine our aspirations.
❖ As a way of life, ethics can bring about holistic & sustainable reform in human life.
❖ It can enable us to integrate divisions of the society.
❖ In an ethical life, one’s destiny & worth would not be determined by one’s birth.
❖ Ethics can empower individual, institutions & State to eradicate all forms of
suffering & injustices, including environmental degradation.
❖ An ethical life can be a life: Where the mind is without fear & the head is held high.
Where knowledge is free.
The Ethics of Mahatma Gandhi
❖ Gandhi regards Satya/ as the highest Ideal of life.
❖ Accordingly, the ethical life is the life of Satyagraha/the fearless pursuit of Truth.
❖ To emphasise upon the primacy of truth, Gandhi says, ‘Truth is God’.
❖ Gandhi describes his religion as Satyagraha, Religion of Truth.
❖ As an advaitin, Gandhi believes in the unity of all plurality & diversity, theism &
atheism.
❖ Truth is the supreme law. It is universal & absolute.
❖ The knowledge of Satya/Truth is the supreme end, the Highest Good.
❖ Ahimsa is the only means to know Satya.
❖ Satya & Ahimsa are inseparable, they are essentially one & the same.
❖ Gandhi asserts that purity of means & purity of end are vital. Even a good end
cannot justify a wrong means.
❖ Gandhi revives the ethics of Ahimsa, which is central to Indian traditions, especially
to Buddhism & Jainism.
❖ Ahimsa, for Gandhi, is the highest (cardinal) virtue, ahimsa paramo dharmah.
❖ All other virtues follow from Ahimsa.
❖ Ahimsa is not merely non-killing, it is the purity of heart. It is love & self-sacrifice.
❖ It is non-injury in thought, word & deed.
❖ Ahimsa is fearlessness & forgiveness.
❖ Ahimsa is the soul-force, it is selflessness & tolerance.
❖ Ahimsa is the conquest of anger, greed, hatred, arrogance & delusion.
❖ Ahimsa is persistent deliberation, it is introspection & contemplation.
❖ Ahimsa wins the opponent by persuasion & not by coercion.
❖ Gandhi believes that every human is intrinsically good.
❖ One should love one’s neighbour as oneself.
❖ Gandhi says, ‘Hate the sin, not the sinner’.
❖ He asserts that violence begets violence. An eye for an eye can make the whole
world blind.
❖ Ahimsa is the weapon of the strongest.
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 ❖ Ahimsa is moral resistance & not meek submission.
❖ Ahimsa implies the virtue of non-stealing (asteya).
❖ Stealing manifests greed, hatred & delusion. It is a form of violence.
❖ Ahimsa implies the virtue of non-possession (aparigraha)
❖ It is sinful to over accumulate resources.
❖ Ahimsa & exclusive ownership cannot go together.
❖ Gandhi proposes trusteeship. Wealth does not belong to an individual, it belongs
to the Nature. There shall be collective ownership.
❖ Social service is integral to life.
❖ One must love every creature as one self.
❖ Ahimsa implies a life of self-restraint, control, unselfishness & temperance
(brahmacharya).
❖ One should not become slave of one’s passions & desires.
❖ One should strive to become a swarajist, one should rule over oneself.
❖ A swarajist must conquer anger, greed, hatred & delusion within.
❖ One should be guided by soul-force & not brute-force.
Gandhi’s Political Ideas:
❖ Satyagraha is integral to life, thus, politics without ethical principles is a sin.
❖ In Hind-swaraj, Gandhi writes, ‘It is swaraj, when we learn to rule ourselves’.
❖ Swaraj enables an individual to attain spiritual as well as political freedom.
❖ Gandhi maintains that state is not an end but it is a means for the welfare of the
people.
❖ Gandhi envisages Sarvodaya-samaj as an ideal society, where freedom, equality,
justice & fraternity prevails.
❖ There is no class, castes and exploitation in Sarvodaya-samaj.
❖ Sarvodaya is necessary for Swaraj.
Questions From Previous Mains Exams:
2013: Q1: What do you understand by ‘Values’ & ‘Ethics’? In what way is it important to be
ethical along with being professionally competent? (150 Words).
2013: Q3: Some people feel that values keep changing with time and situation, while
others strongly believe that there are certain universal & eternal human values. Give your
perception in this regard with due justification. (150 Words).
2013: Q6: Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
(a): “There is enough on this earth for every one’s need but for no one’s greed.” – Gandhi
(150 Words)
2013: Q8: It is often said that ‘politics’ and ‘ethics’ do not go together. What is your
opinion in this regard? Justify your answer with illustrations.
2015: Q1(b): Differentiate between:

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2. Personal ethics & Professional ethics.
2015: Q2(b): Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men
are afraid of the light”. (150 Words).
2015: Q3 (a): “A mere compliance with law is not enough, the public servant also has to
have a well-developed sensibility to ethical issues for effective discharge of duties”. Do you
agree? Explain with the help of two examples, where (i) an act is ethically right, but not
legally and (ii) an act is legally right, but not ethically. (150 Words).
2016: Q2(b): Discuss Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of seven sins. (150 words)
2016: Q11 Case Study: Suppose you are an officer in-charge of implementing a social
service scheme to provide support to old and destitute women. An old and illiterate
woman comes to you to avail the benefits of the scheme. However, she has no documents
to show that she fulfills the eligibility criteria. But after meeting her and listening to her
you feel that she certainly needs support. Your enquiries also show that she is really
destitute and living in a pitiable condition. You are in a dilemma as to what to do. Putting
her under the scheme without necessary documents would clearly be violations of rules.
But denying her the support would be cruel and inhuman.
(a) Can you think of a rational way to resolve this dilemma?
(b) Give your reasons for it.
2017: Q8 (b): Without commonly shared and widely entrenched moral values and
obligation, neither the law, nor democratic government, nor even the market economy
will function properly.
What do you understand by this statement? Explain with illustration in the contemporary
times. (150 words).
2018: Q6: Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
(b): “Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding”- Mahatama Gandhi.
(c): “Falsehood takes the place of truth when it results in unblemished common good”-
Tirukkural (150 Words)
2019: Q 6: Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
(b): “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.” -M.K. Gandhi
(150 words).
2020: Q 6: Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma
Gandhi (150 words)
Representative Questions for Practice (Answers will also be provided):
Q.1. What is an Ideal? What, according to you, shall be the highest Ideal of human life?
Explain your position with due justification. (150 words)
Q. 2. Bring out what this quotation means to you in the present context:
“Truth is one, but it can manifest itself variously in different times and situations” (150

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words)
Q. 3. What is meant by ‘professional ethics? How professional values are similar to, or
different from, ethical values? Discuss. (150 words)
Q.4. “Ethics of Ahinsa and Forgiveness has lost its relevance in the times of Global
Terrorism and Crimes against humanity; stringent punishment, including Capital
Punishment, is the only solution’’. Critically analyse this statement. (150 words)
Q. 5. Discuss the moral significance of Thoreau’s statement “That government is best
which governs not at all” in the Indian context. (150 words)
Q. 6. What do you understand by ‘Post-Truth’? Do you believe that ‘Post-Truth’ can be
regarded as a moral value? Why or why not? Explain your position with illustrations. (150
words)
Q.7. “What is moral is legal, and what is legal is moral”. What is your position in this
regard? Justify your answer with illustrations. (150 words)
Q. 8. Examine the ethical and legal tenability of the following (200 words):
(i) Euthanasia
(ii) Suicide
(iii) Capital Punishment
(iv)Martyrdom
Q. 9. Case Study: A poor man has an ailing wife, he has spent all his savings and money on
her medical treatment. One evening, she is struggling with her life but the man has no
money to buy the life- saving drugs.
Do you think he should steal the drug in order to save the life of his wife? Explain your
position with due justification. (250 words)
Q. 10. Case Study: Ms. Suroopa, who is heading a district jail, receives an anonymous
written complaint against a security guard, named Rameshwar. The letter accuses him of
mis-conduct and breach of discipline, it alleges that Rameshwar provides prohibited items,
including cell phones, to inmates inside the jail premises. After some preliminary
examination, it appears to Ms. Suroopa that there can be some truth in the accusations,
and prima facie Rameshwar cannot be given a clean chit. In the wake of this, Ms. Suroopa
decides to constitute an Enquiry Committee to probe in to the matter. However, even
before she could officially constitute the Enquiry Committee, one morning, the wife of
Rameshwar, who is working as a domestic help to Ms. Suroopa, comes to Ms. Suroopa,
falls into her feet and starts to wail miserably. She pleads that Rameshwar is a victim of
misfortune and poverty. She says that Rameshwar’s father is a cancer patient and, thus, he
resorts to earn money through this route to afford quality medical care available in the
city’s best private hospital. She points out that the Government Hospital is in complete
shambles with no medical care available. She also produces the record of bill, running into
several lakhs, that have been paid to the hospital over medical expenses. She explains that
their small earnings, in the form of their respective salaries, are too meager to meet the
basic domestic needs, and in addition to that there are academic expenses of two children,

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who are studying in the reputed Public school of the city. She, further, points out that
government school is not imparting quality education, and that it only serves Mid-day
meal. She reiterates that wrongdoings of Rameshwar has not been out of choice but
necessity, he resorted to it not for the sake of luxuries but to meet the basic needs of life.
Moreover, she assures that all such incidents are the acts of past, when they were in the
dire need of the money. Now, he is no longer into any kind of malpractices, since his father
has recovered and the medical expenses are manageable. Finally, she says that she has
been serving Ms. Suroopa very devotedly for past many years, and she has treated Ms.
Suroopa as her daughter. Thus, she begs Ms. Suroopa not to proceed with the official
enquiry and to forgive Rameshwar for all his wrongdoings, she promises that, henceforth,
Rameshwar will never involve himself in any unlawful act.
Consider that Ms. Suroopa comes to you for the advice, what advice will you offer to her?
Give reasons in support of your position. (250 words)
Q. 11. Case Study: Consider that you are a District Magistrate. One day a group of people
come to you with a representation seeking a ban on a book. They argue that the book in
question portrays their group in a derogatory manner and that their sentiments have been
hurt immensely. They assert that if the book is not banned with immediate effect then
they would launch violent protest movements and force the author to withdraw all his
work.
(a) Analyse the situation ethically & suggest a course of action that you believe is ethical.
(b) Examine the ethical tenability of freedom of speech. (250 words)
Q. 12. Case Study: Raghav is a research scholar. He has been working under the
supervision of an eminent professor for close to two years. On one occasion Raghav visits
the professor at his residence in order to collect some rare books and literature. In the
process he discovers that the professor lives with another man and that the two men are
homosexuals. They are in no way different from a lot of other nice people he knows. He
notices that both of them are witty, intelligent, compassionate and considerate. On
returning home, he casually shares this piece of information with his parents. They are
stunned to know all this, they advise him to change his supervisor immediately and not to
keep any contact with him. They express concerns and amazement that a characterless
man like him could get appointed in Universities, which are like the apostles of learning.
Raghav contests their position and asserts that the professor is academically so erudite.
However, his parents remain unrelenting and ask him to either deregister himself with
immediate effect or reregister with any other professor of good character, even if one is
academically less competent than this professor.
(a) Consider that Raghav comes to you for the advice, what advice will you offer to him?
(b) Do you think homosexuality is morally wrong? Explain your position with due
justification. (250 words)

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