How to decide whether you are right or wrong?
When we declare something as right or wrong, we are fundamentally doing an act of judgment. Is it possible to pass judgment without having some standard truths or assertions to refer to?
For example:
A judge makes a judgment of right or wrong in a court, by referring to the ‘constitution’. Religious people make their judgments of right and wrong by referring to scriptures and considering the given commandments in scriptures as standard or absolute truths. Similarly, in a game, the umpire makes a judgment of right and wrong by referring to the book of rules.
It’s clear that without establishing some standard truth it’s difficult to conclusively decide right or wrong in any given situation. We will establish two standard statements of truth in the latter part of this blog. Let’s first learn different perspectives on the question of right and wrong.
1. Common sense view of the question of right and wrong
Right and Wrong are relative in nature and most of the time it depends on individual perspective. I believe the two common sense factors we use to determine what is right or wrong are: Action and Intention.
Imagine that a man steals some medicine from a medical shop to provide treatment to his dying mother. He did not have money to buy, and nobody was ready to help. So, he decided to steal. Is he right or wrong?
Of course, from the Law’s perspective, his action is wrong and Law is not going to look at his intentions. But, as a human being, we are more likely to consider him right, because, we value intention. Another example, where we consider action and intention to label an act as Right or wrong is- there are some people who manifest the actions termed ethical and moral because they feel that way, whereas other merely comply with the moral and ethical codes because they fear the consequences of their violation.
The first class has the true social, ethical, and moral feelings, tastes, ideals, and inclinations; while the second manifest merely the elementary feelings of self‐preservation and selfish prudence. The first class is “good” because they feel that way and find it natural to be so; while the others are “good” merely because they have to be or be punished by legal penalty or public opinion, loss of prestige, loss of financial support, etc… Most of us would consider the later one wrong because intentions play a significant role in our judgment of right and wrong. Similarly, if a defender deflects the ball into own Goal while trying to defend, we as the fan would scream at him and consider it wrong. Here we are not looking at intention, but action or the result produced by the action.
Therefore, it’s very difficult to know whether something is absolutely Right or Wrong by applying the common sense of view.
2. Natural or intuitive perspective:
CONSCIENCE, GUILT, AND REGRET
We all have an inner system or being or voice that keep telling us whether what we are doing or thinking or feeling is right or wrong. Albeit, it may or may not inhibit your actions or refrain you from doing what It considers right or wrong, but our conscience always provide us the valuable clue of what we are doing, thinking or feeling is right or wrong.
Nature has its own inbuilt reward and punishment system within us to tell whether what we are doing is Right or wrong. If your actions are inconsistent or do not acquiesce or align with your conscience then Your Mind will produce Guilt and Regret. These both are the Way in which Nature tells us that we did not behave in harmony with our conscience.
Conscience is a set of beliefs and values and it is a result of evolution, experiences, education, and environment. We are not born with Conscience; we develop it with Time. I believe Conscience is good at helping us separate right from wrong, but it is not always an accurate way to establish the general idea of Right and wrong.
Let me explain in a bit detail:
The standard premise of our conscience is – ‘We must think, feel and act in consistency with our beliefs and values’.
As I stated earlier conscience is a set of beliefs and values that are results of evolution, experiences, suggestions, and environment. Therefore, we all have a different conscience and different triggers for guilt and Regret.
Conscience also contains the social, moral and ethical codes of the Race which vary with time and country. What is considered morally or ethically right in one race or community or country might be wrong in others? ‘Sati system’ was a matter of proud for a woman at some point in history. It used to be considered an act of proud and expression of the highest morality. But, in the present time, we would consider it wrong and foolish. A few years back, when untouchability was prevalent in India, people following rules of untouchability used to consider themselves right and their conscience did not produce any guilt or Regret in them for such inhuman behavior. But now we consider untouchability wrong.
Conclusion:
Conscience or inner natural system, for keeping you aware of whether you are in harmony with your core values and drives or not, help us provide a hint or clue of whether we are Right or wrong. It conveys the judgment of Right and wrong through GUILT and REGRET. It is a good way of knowing your actions to be right or wrong, but it’s not always the accurate way of stating general Right or wrong as it’s the product of evolution, experience, education, and environment which vary with time and place.
3. Deductive reasoning
As I stated in the beginning, if we can set a standard premise or general truth about what is Right and Wrong, then we can apply deductive reasoning to make a logical conclusion of what we are doing is Right or wrong.
I believe if we presuppose the following two statements as absolutely right, then we can establish what is right or wrong in any given situation. Let’s establish two statements of absolute truth.
1. We all must care for human welfare or well-being.
2. We all must abide by the constitution of our Country and follow the Law and Order
1. We all must care for human welfare or well-being
If we consider the first standard statement as the absolute or universally accepted right thing to do, then addiction to drugs, smoking, alcohol, etc.. is wrong, and eating healthy food, drinking lot of water, sleeping well and developing healthy habits, reading books, keeping yourself in positive environment and exercise is right. In the light of first standard truth, hurting others’ well-being whether physically or emotionally is wrong, therefore, racism, discrimination on caste, creed and colour, eve-teasing, and child abuse is wrong. In like manner, Love, compassion, equanimity, respect for each other’s existence, and rights is Right.
2. We all must abide by the constitution of our Country and follow the Law and Order
If we consider the above statement as standard truth or as absolute Right Thing to do then we can logically deduce that killing, terrorism, bullying, stealing, rape, breaking traffic rules, throwing garbage on Roads, not paying Taxes, scams, hoarding, and corruptions, are absolutely wrong things to do.
In the above light, behaving within the Rights and following the duties is the absolute right Thing to do. Therefore, if you are breaking the Law and order and not abiding by the constitution, you are wrong.
Now, you must be thinking we can easily decide the aforesaid situations and issues to be right or wrong, and how we decide when two standard premises are in conflict with each other. So, from here on, we will take some complex issues.
Is it right or wrong to ask the question of right or wrong in all situation?
We see people endlessly arguing on many trivial things to establish who is right or wrong.
For example:
Many Vegetarians argue that eating veg food is right, and eating Non-veg food is wrong?
I believe the only thing that is wrong here, is to ask the question of right and wrong. You can not set a standard statement of truth to deduce what is right or wrong, therefore you can’t pass a logical judgment.
Suppose, we set a standard truth that ‘we must take care of all living creatures’. It’s difficult to accept the above statement as a statement of truth because Nature designed us in such a way that we don’t feel the same connection with all species. We may feel more connected to animals who are capable of showing emotion like Dogs or who are useful to us in some sense like cow, horse, camel etc…No one likes or feel a connection with a mosquito, cockroach, ant, insects, etc…
At most, we can develop an understanding that we should not kill those animals that are emotionally close to us or useful to us. But that truth is already included in the first truth of human well being.
People argue on music and movie choices to be right or wrong; dressing choices or fashion choices to be right or wrong; the subject of study to be right or wrong; Phone choices to be right or wrong and the list goes on. It’s not important to always judge things to be right or wrong. If you can’t set a standard premise or statement of truth for the thing, you can’t conclude it to be right or wrong.
Let’s discuss some complex situations where we find difficult to establish right or wrong-
Teachers or parents beating kids to punish them or teach them a lesson so that they can help them upgrade their behavior or make them disciplined.
In this case, Intention is right but the action is wrong. If we go by the No. 1 standard truth, this act is wrong. It’s not good for the physical and psychological well being of the Kids. Here, good intention is of no effect. In many countries it’s illegal as well so you can apply standard truth number 2 as well.
The question may arise, ‘What about the countries in which beating is legal’?
In such a case, there will be a conflict between the two standard truths. Whatever you choose, you will be logically right, but I would love to be right by giving my personal preference to the first truth of human well-being.
Lying is right or wrong?
If what you lie about is considered against the Law, then by first standard truth it’s wrong; therefore, it’s easily decidable.
How to consider moral situations?
For example,
Did you go to watch a movie, without telling your parents, with your friends?
You have a girlfriend and you are hiding it from your parents?
Dating more than one girl or boy at a time?
Making excuses for reaching late in class?
Lying about a number of hours you study?
Telling lie about your financial status or position so that you can feel uplifted?
Lying about health n diseases?
If we closely observe these social, moral and ethical situations and carefully apply #1 and #2 Standard premises, and use our conscience, we will be able to separate Right from wrong.
