Page 24 - August 2018

Learn to Subdue Our Passions: Ethical Decision Making
Learn to Subdue Our Passions: Ethical Decision Making
Oscar
Oscar Patterson III, Patterson III, Ashlar Lodge No. 98 Grand Lodge of FloridaAshlar Lodge No. 98 Grand Lodge of Florida
A real Freemason “restrains his passions because they Ethical decision making, then, will be accepted as that
cannot be indulged without injuring his neighbor or process through which men stabilize society and function
himself.”1 Every signifi cant moral philosopher from Plato successfully within a social setting. They will also be
to Aquinas, from Voltaire to Durkheim and from Ancrombe considered as those decisions that serve the common good
to even more recent thinkers share a focus on temperance as they reduce fear within the individual and group.
and ask the same two questions: How ought we to live and
what is good? The Ten Commandments
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) noted that good is the object A great deal of western tradition is based on the Decalogue
of all human striving suggesting that a prime object for man or Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20 and
should be to “know thyself” but to do so without excess. Deuteronomy 5. This set of biblical admonitions relates to
He also notes that what is good is that which is both useful both worship and ethics. They include specifi c regulations
to man and, more importantly, enables him to live at peace for the worship of God, the sanctity of the Sabbath and a
within society. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) noted that strong prohibition against idolatry and blasphemy. They
man is naturally inclined to do that which is right and that also speak directly to societal issues such as murder, theft,
ethical behavior follows that natural inclination. Do what dishonesty, and adultery. The Decalogue is fundamental to
is right, Aquinas suggested, and ethical behavior follows. both Christianity and Judaism, and the Quran speaks of 10
Even Machiavelli (1469-1527 A.D.) in his complicated, commandments.
pragmatic outlook suggests decisions are made best when
passion is absent. Voltaire (1694-1778 A.D.) tells us that The fi rst four specifi cally address religious practice:
we must use our reason to balance our natural tendency to you shall have no other gods before me; you shall have no
passion and informs us that what is sensible is to act for the false idols; you will not take the Lord’s name in vain; and,
greater good of society. remember the Sabbath Day. The other six deal with more
practical, societal issues: honor father and mother; don’t
The contention between passion and reason, according to commit murder; don’t steal; don’t commit adultery; don’t
Rousseau (1712-1778 A.D.), requires man to use both his lie (bear false witness), and don’t covet what your neighbor
conscience and his compassion to make ethical decisions has. These last six are those most directly related to the
and Spinoza (1632-1677 A.D.) tells us to use our reason to above defi nition of ethical decision making: making those
determine a proper course for action. In the 19th century, decisions necessary to the stability of society and reducing
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a British philosopher, wrote fear in others.
that man should act by the rule that whatever he does should
be that which will bring the greatest good and notes that Let us consider, as an example, the prohibition against
“moral behavior” comes from within, not without. During murder. The Hebrew words lotirtzach are commonly
the same century, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), writing translated as “thou shalt not kill,” but textual analysis
in Germany, tells us to think carefully about any action, to suggests that a more accurate translation would be “thou
act with compassion, to respect ourselves and others, and shalt not murder” or do not kill unlawfully. Both the Old
to use experience to achieve balance in our thinking. All of and New Testaments concur that murder is a grave evil and
the philosophers noted above are addressing the same issue: link murder to the question of blood guilt which often leads
how to make ethical decisions. to revenge. When a person is in fear of being murdered—
killed unlawfully—he will act in a manner consistent
Morals and ethics are not easily diff erentiated. Some with that fear. And those actions may result in unintended
argue that morality is the common, everyday evaluation of consequences. Fear increases stress, both physical and
acceptable behavior while ethics is the refl ection on personal psychological, taking a marked tool on the human psyche.
and social consciousness. Everyone, it is suggested (except Reduce the fear by a strong admonishment against the
some psychopaths), has a moral sense, but not everyone has action and man is able to function successfully within a
the capability of thinking critically about their decisions, societal setting.
actions, and emotions.
Consider the soldier on patrol in a combat zone. His
Ethics, it is often noted, is derived from the Greek word anxiety is enhanced, and his stress level signifi cantly
ethos, meaning character or personal disposition while increased because of the fear that he might be killed or
moral is derived from the Latin word mos, meaning custom. injured at the next step. When you transfer that level of
For the purpose of this paper, ethics will be considered as hyper-alertness - fear- to the civilian setting, the results are
the individual’s ability to determine right and wrong and to well documented in studies dealing with post-traumatic
act accordingly. Ethics will be accepted as being directly stress disorder. Reduce the fear, and you reduce the internal
infl uenced by societal values which point to standards or cues that lead to psychological problem.
codes of conduct or behavior expected by the group.
Page 24 Montana Freemason August 2018