The Mathias Mpuuga moment has provided an opportunity for me to address myself on matters ethics. Ethics is a commonly used term in our Ugandan circles, sometimes you will often hear morals. And when Ugandans talk of ethics or morals, quite often, they run to their religions, their spirituality, their culture, or the letter of the law. And in doing so, we often miss out the proper understanding of ethics.
The question of ethics has perturbed many men and women in time. The question of; ‘What is the right thing to do?’ Or better even, what should we desire as human beings? What thoughts should be held? In discussing ethics, I love to think of it as a way of living that pertains to what’s good for us, and what’s good for those around us. Or better still, how shall we make ourselves excellent during our lives? And what shall we regard as human flourishing?
I recently met a friend and asked her; ‘what’s your objective in this life?’ She responded that she aspired to a life of freedom, where she could wake up to do anything she wanted. I told her to be careful about things, about taking on things until one is clear about what they mean by those things. Freedom for example. Is freedom really the ability to do everything we wanted?
I shared with her an experience. Imagine I drink as much alcohol as I want, I wake up the next day unable to get out of bed, nursing a hangover, and probably even throwing up. Am I free? What about if I went ahead drunk-driving and caused accidents, am I free? I said, the better way to define freedom is the ability to love the things that we must do. Freedom is recognizing that there’s another day tomorrow and finding moderation in my drink. And the more we discipline ourselves, the more we love what we must do, the freer we are. Freedom is not about choosing to do anything we want; freedom is the ability to choose well. Freedom is the ability to choose to participate in realities that lead us to human flourishing. The better our choices, the better our freedom.
Returning to the Mpuuga moment, I believe most things in life are not cut-out. Things are not black or white. For most situations in life, there will be no answers in advance. That’s why even the law is interpreted. That’s why we still say things such as ‘the law is no substitute for common sense.’ Decision-making is a hard science, even more challenging is ethical decision-making, knowing the right thing to do.
The commonest introduction to the ethical question is usually the trolley problem. The one where if you’re driving a car that loses control, and you have an option to kill 5 people instead of 3. Do you kill the 5 to save 3? The question is varied till to that point when you recognize that ethical dilemmas are always around us. I recommend you to Prof. Michael Sander’s introductory course to justice on Youtube.
Let’s start somewhere. There’s a framework for ethical decision making. That framework states that every decision can be seen through the lenses of both the Intention and the Implementation (action). That’s how for example, murder (if not premeditated) becomes manslaughter.
Intention plus Implementation gives us an outcome. That outcome will always have consequences.
In life, your intention could be right, but your implementation could be disastrous or injurious. Take an example of Covid-19 in Uganda. I was outspoken against the lockdowns simply because I disagreed with the implementation. The intention was right (to protect us), but the implementation involved violence, forceful treatments, hiked covid-19 tests to mention but a few. You are saying we want to keep people safe, but when you arrest them, you bundle them on the same truck. And sometimes your implementation could cause us to question your intention.
Life requires prudential judgement. Prudence is one of the cardinal virtues, it’s the virtue that enables us to see reality as it really is. It is the virtue that pertains to practical wisdom. Prudence is the ability to make the right decision. Prudence is the wisdom of the heart.
Prudence can be seen through the angles of proportionality (that the bad effects of your action shouldn’t outweigh the necessity of that action), predictability (that do not take an action whose consequences you can’t predict or prevent), practicality (only take a decision if there’s no better alternative, that this is absolutely the only possible solution to the problem posited) and finally proximity (how close the effects are to the cause). Think for a moment, almost everything in life emits some radiation. Chronological proximity implies that although you receive this radiation, its effects could only come to play 100 years later. And that’s beyond your time on this earth.
I won’t answer the Mpuuga question, I want to give you the tools to be able to arrive at that decision. Was his intention, right? Was the implementation, right? Then you can go back in your own life and always ask the same questions. What is my intention? What’s the action I take to achieve that objective?
Finally, I would love to recommend a school of ethics far from what most of us know. Back to the conversation with my friend. One of the things I told her is that it’s great to climb to the top, but be careful not to climb on people’s tears, and blood. I want to define ethics as the science that prescribes a way to human flourishing. Do you want to be lonely at the top? Do you want to have it all, but with a broken family? Do you want to build a results-oriented company but with burn-out employees?
The first school of ethics is one based on principles. Out of this, you get norms or rules. But as I have noted before, this school always hits snags. Sometimes the wheel of the law moves much slower than the ethics of the day. Something could be legal yet unethical. There was a time when slavery was legal. Did it make it ethical? For those who want to read more (you can go ahead and search about Kant, deontologism and consequentialism).
The second school of ethics is one grounded in moral sentiments. That you can know what is good, you can just feel it. For example, you know that love is an ethical thing to do.
I subscribe to the third school of ethics, the one based on virtue. The one that thinks of virtue as a quality or character that accords as excellence in this life. That for us to stabilize ourselves as human beings, we must always acquire character, and that it’s through character that we keep transforming ourselves to happiness. There are four cardinal virtues. First is prudence (discussed earlier), Self-control, Fortitude and Justice. Prudence perfects our intellect, fortitude/courage, and self-control/temperance perfect our passions and emotions, while justice perfects our will. As human beings, we are reason, we are will, and we are emotions. These three things (our psychosomatic union) should always be in harmony for us to be happy. Human flourishing only comes through cultivation of virtue. The more we grow in virtue, the more we grow in happiness. Happiness is a full life.
But I will add two virtues (the ones I recently learned), they are the ones that speak to those who choose to answer the leadership call. It’s the virtue of magnanimity and humility. Magnanimity is the ability to do great things in a great way. Far from ambition which is just about doing great things. For example, let’s say you want to go viral. Ambition simply says, do all it takes. Be controversial and you will go viral. Magnanimity on the other hand says that I just want to do things in a great way, and if they do go viral (well and good). Magnanimity is knowing what you are, and what you are meant to become. Magnanimity is the greatness of the spirit, it’s the beauty of the mission. Humility on the other hand is the act of living in truth. Let’s say I am a great musician, if someone compliments me on that and I dismiss it, that’s not humility. Humility is the recognition of the dignity of every being on this earth. It’s the recognition that everyone you meet is a full world. They dream just like you, desire like you do, and thus recognizing that you are connected to every being you meet.
So why virtue? By repetitive practice of virtue, it helps us to change the way we are affected by the world, so that we react differently and eventually, we behave differently. I say, every moment is an opportunity to practice virtue. I love virtue-based ethics because it holds true for all religion, for all tribe, for all culture, for all moments. If you base your ethics on rules and laws, you will find scenarios for which a law has not yet been enacted. Secondly, people can enact a law that facilitates them to do bad. And finally, how many laws shall you enact? I worked in a multi-national organization, there were tens of policies. And every policy came with tens of pages. Do you think in those pages, it would be hard to find something that knocks down someone? Although the goal is to codify, it misses the point.
I welcome you to the world of virtue-based ethics. Virtues are habits of excellence. Namagunga girls were always taught about the social graces for example. Think of virtues as qualities of the mind, will and heart that instil strength of character and stability of personality.
Is to say I am perfect? Far from it. I still will falter here and there. But I am reminded that even in those moments, that’s an opportunity to practice virtue. If I wrong someone, it’s an opportunity to be humble and apologize. If I am scared, it’s an opportunity to practice courage. And as we grow in virtue, we grow in excellence. An excellent life is a happy life. A happy life is a full life. And that’s Eudamonia. That’s the goal people, a life of flourishing!
I hope I didn’t preach. But you can send my service award!