How do morals and ethics change with time?
The primary force must be enlightenment in terms of accumulated knowledge. One example would be the more we understand about ourselves, the better we are able to understand how much we are alike and that impacts moral decisions as well as ethics in that we can avoid compartmentalizing real problems away, forcing us to make better / different decisions.The basic nature of people has not changed. Needs, wants, etc... are near constants.What does change is the context. Context in terms of our understanding about the world and it's dangers, our understanding of ourselves and technology and how it can enable us all contribute to new norms and sometimes choices in ethics and morality.
How have ethics changed over the centuries?
Ethics/morals have changed over time to me. Long ago people wouldn't have done many of the things we do today. For example homosexuality was something that a lot of people shunned in past times, but now it is something that many view today as normal. But I feel that ethics are changing because people have lost the fear of God. The Bible clearly shuns certain things that people do in the world today but people still do them.
Is it OK for your morals or ethical standards to change over time?
Yes, particularly as our perspective becomes more inclusive.Yes, to our human credit, morality can evolve, can become more complex. Because of the medium of film and photography, humans have begun to see more objectively, what once were unheard of stories. Because we can see, our human level of care seems to be globalizing and growing and there is evidence of this everywhere. Organizations are striving to address powerful imbalances of power year after year. Today's celebrities are attempting to use their clout to make a difference. Yes, it is not hard to get a glimpse of the brutal past as some countries are still taking religious texts literally and inflicting cruel and unusual punishment as if it were the middle ages. Their practices, shocking to those of us in the first world, are viewed in the media, and slapped up on facebook pages with Wtf? posted in the message box.Facebook has become an arena, in part, for what is "wrong" in the world, what is immoral. We see postings of senseless killing, maiming, unnecessary hunting or poaching of animals, and cruel and unusual punishment. The images stay with us. It gets to you. It gets inside of you and makes your gut feel empty and sick as you care about something that has nothing to do with your own family. As you feel for people on the other side of the planet. You wish you could rescue the world, or at least, that little girl getting stoned to death in Syria for looking back at your Facebook page.Sensitivity and care are the generators behind evolving morality. And yes, these do take root in the ever sensitive human who strives to connect with his/her world. Who cares to be part of the whole. And more than just the sensitive individual growing, caring, upward toward the light of the world, is the growing universal agreement of what is considered moral and what is considered immoral. I believe this is a by-product of the evolution of morality. As we individually become more inclusive, we become, universally more and more together.
What does this quote mean - "Ethics change with technology"?
"Ethics" are, for the most part, a person's opinion towards what is right/wrong in consideration of general society (whereas morals tend to be an individual's own sense of right & wrong, for their own behavior). Most people's driver's license doesn't reflect their actual, current weight -- and they're lying (and ethic violation), but personally, I don't really care (a moral judgment). "Ethics change with technology" may mean that as technology advances, people have different opinions about what is right/wrong in terms of social behavior. Cyber-bullying, texting, texting language/spelling, cyber-stalking (hitting-up someone's facebook a thousand times is good/bad? Looking them up on spoke.com is better/worse?) -- all of these are examples of technology-based behavior that have become unacceptable OR "norm" as technology advances. In past days, it used to be considered poor form to not write with some semblance of "proper" grammar and sentence structure. Today, texting-- with its abbreviations, characters, and lack of grammatical structure-- is okay based on the medium used. I hope I didn't confuse more than help. Good luck. :)
Are ethical standards allowed to change with time?
All ethical and moral standards change with individuals, with culture and with time, despite what anyone says. It is silly to say otherwise. If not, there would only be one standard. One might think that there are some absolutes, like murder, or cannibalism, but there are cultures that either do allow or have allowed both, plus other awfulness. So obviously, even these things are relative. And as you noted in your question, slavery used to be permitted and is widely practiced today in many parts of the world. Indeed, child slavery is a major problem in parts of the world, as are such things as genital mutlilation and "honor" killings that we in the West view with abhorrence. But right here in the US, our rape statistics are terrible, and as recently as the turn of the 19th century, families with small children used to picnic and watch hangings. so we are not all that advanced. Quite often, sadly, no matter what people profess, morality and ethics are honored only in the breach....
Do ethics and morals evolve over time?
The simple answer is NO! What is moral does not change or evolve over time, unless reality itself changes.Morality is grounded in REALITY and is based on FACTS. Our understanding of reality is what evolves / changes over time and as our knowledge improves, so does our understanding of what is moral and what is not.What is moral and what is not is objectively true and remains objectively true, unless reality changes.For example, 1500 years ago christians thought it was moral to burn witches at the stake. However, as we have come to understand facts about reality - that witches do not exist - we now understand that buring anyone in the name of a witch is an immoral act.Another example. If women were really less intelligent than men or inferior to men intellectually, then it would make sense to underpay them or ask them to stay at home and do “women’s work”, but the reality is that women are just as intelligent and capable as men are and hence they should have equal rights. Paying a women less just because she is a women is immoral.Its not that our morality has evolved but our understanding of reality that has evolved / improved and hence what we view as moral has changed and will continue to do so as long as we keep finding out more truths about this world that we happen to be living in.
Ethical principles do not change over time. Things that do not change over time are boring. Therefore, ethical principles are boring. Is this the root of all evil?
First it doesn't matter that ethical principles don't change. They shouldnt. What matters is that people drop, pickup, and apply ethical principles in complex ways. Studying the principles and how they are utilized is what is fascinating, fun… and difficult.The root of all evil is simply these two things :There exist people who are willing to hurt other people (nonviolently and violently) to get what they want.There exists people who won't stop the people who are willing to hurt other people.Evil is stopped when a small group of people decide to stop the people willing to hurt other people.
Why does morality change over time?
Morality in its true sense should be something unflinching and non-compromisable dictate of life. But historical experience in various societies has shown that morality changes over time. Morality changes primarily because other strong forces which act on human acceptance, results in a change in the value system, perception , reasoning ,judgements and ethics . Counter forces emerge as :-Cultural forces , which has most deepening impact on human beliefs. Inter-mixing of different cultures has acted as good filters on acceptance level. When good things get assimilated in a culture , it is strengthened.-Scientific discoveries, which changes the older blind faiths, superstitions.-Reasoning and rationality , which has changed dogmatic ideas of religions.Humans have found that there are better instruments to guide a society other than morality. Morality is not god’s command. So moralities change over time, and cultural forces together with reasoning act as catalyst in this process.
How did Confucianism change over time?
It is important to distinguish between the thought of a teacher and the thought of that teacher's students. Once he died, of course, the thinking of Confucius himself did not change, but he left followers who gave his fundamental ideas new formulations and emphasis. Furthermore, not all of his students accepted everything he said. Confucius (K'ung Ch'iu of Lu) himself, for example, formulated this as the heart of his ethics: "What you do not yourself desire do not do to others." He believed that jen, which is usually translated as 'benevolence', an unselfish concern for others' welfare, was the chief virtue. Not everyone accepted the ideas of Confucius. They were challenged over time, and some, such as Mencius, defended the fundamental ideas of Confucius. In the course of the dialectic, the give and take of argument, some Confucian concepts were altered. For example, the concept of jen itself becomes clarified. This kind of change is common in intellectual history. Even though Mencius was a Confucian philosopher, his philosophical thinking was not identical to the thinking of Confucius. The same holds for other Confucian philosopher