An athological and axiological attempt at justifying ethical choices

Abstract

In the author’s view contemporary ethical thought, particularly in the area of professional ethics, is focused on how to formulate an action and how to assess correctness of their implementation, whereas little attention is given to reflection on justification of ethical behaviour.

It seems that contemporary moral philosophers, including business ethicists, are convinced that the reason for being ethical has always been obvious and, therefore, it is not necessary to explain it. According to them the ethicists’ aim is to formulate the most appropriate and optimal ways to implement these recommendations. However, close observation of contemporary world proves that in economic, social and intellectual life, most misunderstandings result from different views on what forms the fundaments.

In the Medieval Ages Europeans’ views on reality and on how to live a good life were unified and alike. We can find descriptions of links between a vision of cosmic order (established by God) and the rules of life in some of the works by Bonaventure and Aquinas. This coherent view of the world was questioned in modern times. As a result, thinking about cosmos and about man went in separate ways. Descriptions of ethical confusion, resulting from such a state of affairs, can be found in the works of John Donne and Blaise Pascal.

In the following part of the article, the author describes modern attempts at finding a new way to justify ethical choices. The main focus is on a presentation of two 20^th century concepts, namely, axiological (by Max Scheler) and agathological (by Józef Tischner).