Ethics and Motives

Ethical behavior, if you do not posit a deity (or some external superior life force that sets out hard and fast rules for the world we live in), is very tricky to define. One troubling question that comes into play is whether motive comes into play in calling a behavior ethical. A parent who steers a child away from an R rated film when the child is eleven or twelve may have several different motives. Can the parent whose sole motivation is avoiding the intensive inspection of his or her life should the protective services of the state be made aware that the child has gone into a soft porn movie (or in other examples is regularly smoking cigarettes or being given beer at home) be considered as ethical as the parent who wishes the child not to pick up the misogynistic values that are often portrayed in such films (or from getting COPD or starting on the path to alcoholism)? If you think about it we seem to consider a parent who is diverting the child from ill advised behaviors based on the child’s welfare as better than a parent who does the same thing simply to avoid personal sanction, or simply because he or she is just rule compliant and wishes to follow society’s rules. Is that right?

Yup, this is what I was thinking about on the bus on the ride in today. It is the kind of thing that goes through my mind on a regular basis these days. In the old days a white linen dress would derail my thoughts but not now, ah the joys of later life’s focus.