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Academic program on Western Civilisation

By Peter Bowden - posted Friday, 18 January 2019


But the big failure of western civilisation has been morally. If you open up John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, you will find this failure set out in the first paragraph:

From the dawn of philosophy, the question concerning …the foundation of morality, …has occupied the most gifted intellects, …carrying on a vigorous warfare against one another. And after more than two thousand years the same discussions continue, philosophers are still ranged under the same contending banners, and neither thinkers nor mankind at large seem nearer to being unanimous on the subject, than… Socrates …

If you attend one of the ethics courses offered by most faculties or departments at your university or college, you will learn that well over 20 theories moral theories have been developed over the centuries. In actuality, you will be told only of the major four or five theories, unless you are doing a philosophy degree. They are all Western theories. No Asian morality is taught.

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And the Western theories conflict. They can be used to justify almost any position that you wish to argue. One of the theories that you will learn will be Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative: "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it (your belief) become a universal law."

So whatever side you fall on in the multitude of arguments and differences of opinion that face us today, Kant gives you the OK. Be it same sex marriage, the death penalty, global warming, etc., etc.. You can say that your belief is supported by Kant's universal law – that everyone should follow you; that every other belief is wrong.

To get a little technical, there are three other moral theories that endorse J Mill's Utilitarianism. They are Beauchamp and Childress's Principles of Biomedical Ethics, William Frankena's Ethics, Bernard Gert's Common Morality All of them argue against harming others. Mill's Utilitarianism states:

  • "The moral rules which forbid mankind to hurt one another… are more vital to human well-being than any maxims, however important, which only point out the best mode of managing some department of human affairs." (Utilitarianism, Chapter 5, para 31).
  • "A person may possibly not need the benefits of others; but he always needs that they should not do him hurt." (Ch. 5, para 31).
  • "(U)tility includes not solely the pursuit of happiness, but the prevention or mitigation of unhappiness..." (Ch.2, para 13).

Mill also promotes happiness. He describes utility as the "Greatest Happiness Principle".

The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

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The Asian philosophies hold the same position, be they Buddhism, the Jains, Hinduism, Islam. In the words of the Dalai Lama it is "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." It is the concept of Ahimsa, a Sanskrit word which denotes respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others.

Only the four Western moral theories out of close to thirty incorporate this "Do no harm concept".

If then, we adopt " Do no harm" as a combined universal Eastern and Western moral theory, will it have a greater impact? Will we be more moral? The answer must be yes, for we will not be able to hide behind the slogans we now use, or the political positions we now advocate. We may at times, be forced to balance one harm against a lesser harm, but this will only require us to use the analytical methods of the sciences, instead of argument. If you employ the "Do no harm; help others' guideline, you will find that it resolves most of the current left- right political disputes.

This then is the reason behind rejecting a course on Western Civilisation. Wollongong University will be all the poorer for its acceptance. Such a course may have much to tell us - the birth of democracy in Greece, the many lessons of the Roman Republic, the unshackling of human thinking in the Enlightenment. But if we widen it The History of Civilisation and bring in Eastern thinking as well, the world, and our universities, will be better off for it. They will have a wider, a more embracing concept of the growth of our civilisations.

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About the Author

Peter Bowden is an author, researcher and ethicist. He was formerly Coordinator of the MBA Program at Monash University and Professor of Administrative Studies at Manchester University. He is currently a member of the Australian Business Ethics Network , working on business, institutional, and personal ethics.

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