The Ethical Record Vol. 87 No. 6 JULY/AUGUST 1982 EDITORIAL think that hearing the lecturer is AGM, General Committee sufficient; though, again, some who Continue SPES's Activity cannot attend the lectures find the AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, reports the most important part of attended by some 70 members (May the publication! 26), one member suggested the Dilemma? No, the interest and Ethical Record was boring; others discussion (and diversity of sugges- have praised changes in its make-up tions) are healthy and should keep and tone of contents. Someone the Editor and Editorial Board wanted many short reports of meet- members on their toes. The Edi- ings (a request which had some torial Board, agreed at the first support). General Committee meeting after Obviously it is impossible to the AGM (June 2), hopes to meet please all of our several hundred soon and at least four times in the members, some scattered from Aus- year and will consider how to im- tralia and Japan to Canada and prove the monthly journal. We the USA; the larger majority in hope to let members have a ques- London, but many widely dispersed tionnaire to help them express their in the UK. Perhaps an eighth to a ideas. tenth of the members attend meet- The first meeting of the General ings, only a smaller proportion fre- Committee also dealt with many quently; some of these want a de- details of organisation in its hard- tailed record of lectures, others concluded on page 3 CONTENTS "Coming to Conway Hall": Norman Bacrac, Professor Bernard Crick, Norma Haemmerle, Ian MacKillop, Phil Rawlings, Adrian Williams . 2 Ethics, Ethical Philosophy and the Role of an Ethical Society: Peter Heales 3 From the Administrative Officer: David Joseph 6 From the Honorary Representative: Ray Lovecy 8 The New General Committee Members 9 Committees, etc. for 1982/3 . 10 Ethics for Today: Peter Heales 13 Viewpoints: Sam Beer, Victor Rose, Vivian Gibson, Dora Bentley, Ray Lovecy . 15 South Place News 19 The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society. Microfilm and reprints available—details on request. PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY CONWAY HALL RED LION SQUARE, LONDON WC1 R 4RL Telephone: 01-242 8032 (Answering machine out of hours) SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Appointed Lecturers: H. J. Blackham, Lord Brockway, Richard Clements, OBE, T. F. Evans, Peter Ileales, W. H. Liddell, Harry Stopes-Roe, Nicolas Walter Hall Manager: Jim Smith (tel. 01-242 8032) Administrative Officer: David Joseph (tel. 01-242 8033, Wed-Fri) Hon. Representative: Ray Lovecy Chairman General Committee: Norman Bacrac Deputy Chairman: Barbara Smoker Hon. Registrar: Cynthia Blezard Hon. Treasurer: C. E. Barralet . Editor, The Ethical Record: Peter Hunot COMING EVENTS AT CONWAY HALL Sunday morning lectures at 11.00 am in the Library July 4. Professor BERNARD CRICIC. Orwell's Comtnonsense and Common Morality. July 11. IAN MACKILLOP. Stanton Colt and South Place: The Expulsion of a Platonist. July 18. PHIL RAWLINGS. The Discovery of the Criminal: The Early History of the Modern Prison. No Sunday Forums or Socials in Jul). No meetings in August Informal Tuesday Discussions at 7.00 pm in the Library July 13. The Paradoxes of Consciousness: NORMAN BACRAC. July 20. Community Education: NORMA HAEMMERLE. July 27. Logical Problems for Rationalists: ADRIAN WILLIAMS. Sunday Concerts Recommence October 3. 1982 at 6.30 pm in the Large Hall. For programme see separate leaflet available in September. New Members John Brown, as Honorary Registrar, presented the following applications: Laurel Leffmann (London 5W7); Paul Ekins (London SW I I); Susan Loft- house (London SW11); Mr A. Oates (London SE25); Mr J. Porrit (London NW8); Eyvind Tew (London N3); Mrs M. Bardas (London NW2); Dr I. Finkel (London N7); Mrs .1. Tucker (Dartford, Kent); Cyril Clarke (Brom- ley, Kent); Fay Cohen (Hainault, Essex) who were accepted as members at meetings of the General Committee between January and June. • 2 Ethics, Ethical Philosophy and the Role of an Ethical Society By PETER HEALES (Based on his lecture to the Society on February 21, 1982) ETHICS • THE WORD ETHICS has several uses: it may often mean the branch of philosophy devoted to the study of moral principles. I have adopted •the expression "ethical philosophy" as the title of my second section to refer to that use. To begin with, I am using the word "ethics" to mean some- thing very similar to the word "morals": the practical directives which, whether we can articulate them or not, inform our everyday actions and decisions. The word "ethics" has its origins in the .Greek "ethos",, meaning the ."character" or "spirit" of a person or, group. I imagine that in early societies, where life may have been simpler, if a good deal harder, than today, that necessity gave rise to patterns of behaviour within the group. Such patterns would work for the survival of the group. Their usefulness and apparent necessity would ensure that they were not challenged. Obviously there would be a mechanism for transmitting patterns of behaviour to the new generation in the society. There would have to be a form of training, a very certain process for ensuring that the society continued to succeed in its environment. There may never have been societies that worked as simply and naively as I have implied, but basic patterns of life arc perpetuated in all societies. We have all been subject as children to forms of "absolute" training; have been conditioned to patterns of behaviour about which neither we nor our parents and teachers thought we had any option. Theoretically there are very few absolutes in human life, but all societies behave as though their basic patterns are absolute. In our society an infant quite quickly becomes a child who is recognised as having an independent will, some rights and some power of choice. Most of the training and education we can remember is of the directed type which is based on that recognition. Instructions are given, pressure is concluded from page 1 very difficult years) will now be able to concentrate on her work as Hon- working session (continuing from orary Representative, which she 6.30 until after 10 pm, from which was unanimously asked to continue. new members left if not exactly in BARBARA SMOKER Will be Deputy a state of shock, but tired and, Chairman of the Committee. JOHN hopefully, satisfied to have covered BROWN, after four years as Honor- a great deal of business). This ary Registrar, expressed his wish to voluntary effort, sometimes tedious, retire from this position, though as is an important contribution to the he was elected to the committee at society as is the work on the Sub- the AGM he will continue to assist committees. Despite the work of SPES by his participation. CYNTHIA the paid officers, this voluntary BLEZARD was elected Honorary work is vital. Registrar. NORMAN BACRAC was elected Chairman of the General Com- Details of these and other ap- mittee; RAY LOvECY (who has ably pointments, membership and func- carried out this—again purely vol- tions of the sub-committees, etc. untary—function over the last two are given elsewhere in this issue. 3 applied to get us to choose one option rather than another. We are told that in certain circumstances we "ought" to do this rather than that. Whilst we recognise that we have options about what we DO, our early directed training may well leave us with the feeling that we have no options about the standards by which we should JUDGE our deeds: freedom to choose standards comes later when we learn to "think for ourselves". The need to think for ourselves arises because of the complexity of society, and resultant conflicts between patterns. Unlike my supposed, and perhaps never existing, simple society, we are not trained in one self- consistent pattern of behaviour. We belong at various times to many different sub-groups, each with its values and norms. As children, we learned from our parents, from school, possibly from a church, from clubs and from ad hoc associations with others. Most of us grew up having acquired several different patterns of behaviour, different sets of standards. They have of course been learned in different contexts and seem usually to apply to different situations, but sooner or later they conflict and an ethical problem presents itself. My own attempts to resolve such conflicts have left me with a profound sense of the relativity of ethical principles. I am sure that, for people maturing in our multi-ethnic, multi:cultural society, that sense must be all the stronger. It must be a common human experience to find that patterns of behaviour and assumed values are called into question. When that happens it is very natural to look for guidance. The role of the religious leader has often been to supply that guidance. If we accept it we may feel that we have been "let off the hook"; that we have discovered what is right. For many this is not good enough. Ethics begins to appear as a matter for decision rather than discovery. Values and human objectives must be worked out and put together, often making big demands on our personal resources. We need observation, reason and judgement rather than faith. A second reaction to the challenge is for attention to shift from the individual action, which is the real practical expression of ethical intent, to the reasons for and principles behind the actions. We reason, analyse and justify rather than merely acting. This withdrawal f rom immediacy, the interpolation of a conscious thought process between comprehension and action frequently causes a tension, or "dissonance" between what we would naturally do, and what we reason we ought to do; between the values we possess and the theories we espouse.