Research Quarterly in Islamic Ethics
Year:2013 | Volume:5 | Issue:18|Papers Count:6

The gap between theory and ethical action is known an important problem in ethics and education. Analyzing the relationship between theory and ethical action and deciding the elements having to do with optional actions of human and their interaction, one may perceive the reasons and roots of the gap and, on this basis, improve educational theories to attain the harmony between theory and action. This paper, paying attention to the principles of optional actions with regard to the part of indirect perceptions and the cause of the gap, has presented a solution for the problem. As is understood by Allamah Tabatabaei’s view, the gap lies in a failure in human system of indirect perceptions when willing to action. In other words, the gap can be considered as the weakness of human will in opposing mental obstacles against ethical decision and action.

A religion, as a set of beliefs, views and actions, is established on the basis of human needs. The beliefs and attitudes can be viewed as the most effective agent for mental health, particularly when regarding human relation to God. Downgrading state of mental peace, its being the way for one’s goal, its ordinal state in the world and hereafter and its value gradation are counted by the paper as the parameters for it. Considering the transcendence of human faith through thoughtful sight of the universe, continuous mention of God, living with the Quran and using ethical opportunities, particularly such qualities as forgiveness, positive attitude, contentment, honesty, good humor, sane variety and pleasantry can be counted as agents for peace of mind. Paying attention to natural phenomena and correct usage of Divine gifts can also be of considerable effect in the field.

As is understood by governmental ethics, governors should distribute possibilities and economical and social opportunities among citizens according to distributive justice. In this paper, the author, surveying and criticizing the views in the field, has shown that the type of work, need and public equality taken as norms in the views, may be counted as the ways for recognizing personal rights not as the norms of distributive justice. In other words, distributive justice is founded upon personal rights and the deserts due to work, need etc. In this way, contributive justice and equality may be known as being partially in common not fully. Such an attitude is agreed with by governmental manner of Imam Ali (a).

This paper has studied David Ross’s solutions for ethical mutual competitions. For Ross, the mutual competition happens in ethical duty of the present, and one should give priority to those duties with more emphasized obligation. He has considered special relationship as the foundation for ethical duties upon which the norm for priority and the degree of obligation are based. As is understood by the views of Ross’ critics like Palmer, and by the comparison made between his view and religious teachings, the view would not seem fully correct. Such concepts as essential expediency and evil in religious texts, the part by agent’s motivation, considering the consequences of acts and the priority of the consequences upon which the degree of action’s state of being valuable is based (of which the highest is Divine approximation) can be regarded as the ground for a complete solution in the field. Ross’ view, therefore, may not be accepted as a complete solution.

Ghazzali has defined happiness in his works differently. In his system of thought, the concept of perfection has been taken to be closely related to happiness. It is the very agent leading us to the understanding of his definition of happiness. Ghazzali has divided perfection, firstly, into essential and accidental and, secondly, into true and imaginary. For him, real perfection is the same as happiness. He has viewed happiness as something of gradation with deferent types of absolute and limited, earthly and heavenly. It is on this principle that though human faith is of two kinds of taqlidi and kashfi and views them to be of happiness and salvation, the happiness of those of kashf is more valuable than that of those of taqlid.

Sadra views essential defect of human soul, coverage, imitation or following the group and the effect of corporeality as the agents against the human system of reasoning and, therefore, lead to human inclination from ethical values. For Molla Sadra, nearly all of immoralities lie in the lack of knowledge and in the negligence caused by irrational powers dominating human system of reasoning. In this paper, the agents of immorality and the way in which they conquer human reasoning and appearance of immoralities have been explained in an analytico-descriptive method and in some cases the explanation has been supported by the Quranic verses and traditions.