The Function of Ethics

Everybody is aware of the existence of Ethics and Morality in human experience, but even those who have studied the topic have rarely, if ever, examined the role that it actually plays. The main reason is that its function is so widely and deeply taken for granted that any questionability is difficult to emerge. In America, 'Morality' is primarily attached to Religion, so its assignation is to serve as a means to the ends of the latter, e. g. one obeys the Ten Commandments in order to win favor in the eyes of God, perhaps, even, to secure a preferred afterlife fate. Furthermore, in Evolutionism, generally regarded as the main ideological alternative to Religion, while Darwin was generally silent on the topic, his more recent followers are beginning to settle on the postion that Morality is a survival strategy. In other words, it agrees with its opponent that Morality is a means to an end, just a different end in its case. One significant alternative to this status comes from Aristotle, who conceives of human nature as fully actualizing itself in rationality, and Ethics is the personal dimension of the sphere of that actualization. So, for Aristotle, Ethics is an end, not a means. But unhappy that that status is still contingent on that view of human nature, Kant ambitiously attempted to accord to Morality autonomy, namely that being Moral was only achievable unconditionally, sheerly on the grounds of its principle itself. However, he found it impossible to complete that project without ultimately having to invoke the rewarding of good deeds by God, thus being forced to revert to the orthodoxy that Morality is a means to an end. A further alternative to all of these is suggested, though never developed explicitly, by Aristotle's view. His conception of Virtue as conduct guided by moderation can also be interpreted as a program of self-cultivation. Interpreted in this way Ethics converges with Aesthetics, with the Moral agent an artist, their life as a work of art, and Ethical precepts as the principles of both good art and good living.