Ought vs. should
X asks: I am unable to figure out what the special significance is of not having a ‘moral ought’ in the Indian traditions. If ‘should not’ and ‘must not’ have…
Read moreNormative Ethics II
Whenever I discuss the absence of normative ethics in India, people, especially Indians, get agitated. They hear me say that India has no ethics. Consequently, they want to show that…
Read moreComparative Anthropology and Moral Domains. An Essay on Selfless Morality and the Moral Self—S.N.Balagangadhara
[Published in Cultural Dynamics 1 (1): 98–128] A Disquieting Suggestion Arthur Danto, the well-known American philosopher, prefaced a book he wrote in the 70’s on oriental thought and moral philosophy titled Mysticism and…
Read moreLogic of normative ethics: Immorality
Why does one bring up the issue of one’s grandmother’s judgment about a clerk taking bribes as a counter-example? First, what do I say? That he calls it as corruption…
Read moreMitigating circumstances, normative ethics
The universalisability of norms does not mean that the western people all factually follow these norms. Even if everyone were to lie, the ethical statement “No one ought to lie”…
Read moreEthically Bad Action vs. Corruption—S.N.Balagangadhara
1. The ‘corruption’ refers to the social phenomenon in India which makes about 20% of the adult population into immoral people. When I said that I refuse to call the…
Read moreIs relative ethics coherent?
Does the notion of “relative ethics” make sense within the context of the western ethics? There are some attempts to develop “ethical relativism”, even though it is not clear what…
Read moreMoral domain not defined by norms
The inability of the Chinese language to express counterfactuals is even more intriguing. As you know, Confucius wrote his “Analects” in the Classical Chinese language. In order to see where…
Read moreIs Normative Ethics Richer?
1. Are western traditions innately richer because they have the moral ought? My answer: No. In fact, in my book on ethics I will prove the following: the non-normative ethics…
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