Mohandas Gandhi
To many people there are some obvious ethical truths: society should support family life as well as individual self-realization; economic life should include the service motive as well as the profit motive; political life should pursue the good of the planet as well as the interests of the nation. No matter how obvious these ideas are to people of high ideals, we see many actions that seriously violate the balance between legitimate self-interest and the greater good.
Considering the most serious problems of society, Mohandas Gandhi, India’s best-known non-violent activist, made a list of “seven deadly sins”: Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality, and worship without sacrifice.
When we see seriously harmful behavior going on, what should we do? Of course there are different answers for different kinds of case. But we can’t do nothing. As a child, I was taught not to return evil for evil but to return good for evil; in my confusion, I thought it was spiritual to do nothing. Today many people tolerate anything and everything, even if seriously harmful behavior is involved. It is too easy to retreat from moral clarity and courage, too easy to make excuses for others and to rationalize doing nothing.
Izzy Kalman (www.bullies2buddies.com) tours the U.S. training people to respond to bullying by practicing the golden rule, using fearless and good-humored kindness in a way that effectively stops the abuse.
Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner has written Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed, which deserves its position as the best-selling current book on these three values. Gardner offers positive responses to social problem based on research results from studying good work and good citizenship. Research teams have defined good work and discovered factors that promote it.
“Good work is excellent—it meets the technical standards of the relevant profession or craft. It is personally meaningful or engaging. Carrying out good work over the long haul proves too difficult unless that work remains inviting and meaningful to the practitioner. [And good work] is ethical. It is carried out in a responsible, ethical manner. The good worker constantly interrogates herself about what it means to be responsible; seeks to behave in that way; and attempts, as we all should, to admit her failings and thereafter to correct course.”
“Three factors increase the likelihood of good work: (1) Vertical support.” The persons at the top set a good example. Your boss, “models good work, expects the same of you, and imposes increasingly severe sanctions in cases of compromised or bad work.” (2) Horizontal support. It helps when “those at your level in the workplace who are good workers . . . send out warning signals in the event that you (or others) deviate from that norm.” (3) Periodic booster shots—in any profession, there will be occasional acts of heroism, as well as wake-up calls consequent upon the discovery of compromised or frankly bad work. Workers can be strongly affected by these benevolent or malevolent events and, in particular, by the way others react to them.”
Gardner’s discussion introduces us to a model of how research can clarify professional ethics.
Can you remember a lesson you learned through an effort to act ethically in some social system?
Howard Gardner, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed (NY: Basic Books, 2011), pp. 88-92.
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In 1986, I was assigned to a Federal Prison to provide health care for the inmates. Now this was an entirely new experience for me. For the first time in my professional career, I had to consider security in my providing care for patients. Security was the all pervading cloud that covered every activity in that institution, and it should have been. But there was also an equal compelling factor in the story, and that was the fact that society had locked up individuals and prevented them from seeking health care on their own, thus the legal requirement to provide the health care for them
Often times there were pressured to allow the security requirements to override the medical requirements. But it was clear that should never be the case. Security had to be provided in the context of providing health care as health care had to be provided in the context of the needs of security. In its practical sense, this meant adding additional correctional officers when an inmate required services that could not be provided in the institution and making sure that I had exhausted the resources that I had in the institution before requesting an inmate be sent out for further service.
There were some officials there who applied subtle but persistent pressure to allow security to trump the medical needs of inmates. I suffered greatly from resisting this pressure, but as time continued to pass, I noticed that there was an increase in respect for the functions that I carried out.
I learned that when I stand for what is right, my character is enhanced, and I gain self respect. I also learned that those who bow before the pressure of unrighteousness, have their characters degraded and lose self respect.
When I assume responsibility, I must continue that responsibility until I have fully discharged it. As a medical officer, I was responsible for the medical care of the inmates, and had I failed to do that, not only would I lose self respect and character degradation, but I would also suffer severe penalties for defaulting on my responsibilities.
Dr. Perry
All of us need at times to make compromises, but few have the readiness to stake everything on getting an essential task done. You have anticipated the culminating chapter in this series.