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What role do ethics have in conflict?

Long before predecessors of man came together to form social units conflict was a major mode of

solving problems and promoting individual units at the cost of others. Ethics probably entered the scene

later on when man started weaving a philosophical fabric in order to give some coherence to the social

units. Seeds of ethical thoughts have existed for quite some time. To give an example our eye is one of themost delicate organs placed in a very vulnerable position. How many of us are blind? Two things operate inthis example one: the physiological organization of the person gives priority to protection of eyes, two: we

certainly do not go about plucking out each others eyes. More internally within the individual we dont

normally bite our tongue while chewing or talking. Nature has physiologically created such mechanism that

the integrity of the organism is not destroyed.

What is a conflict in social sense? Various social institutions and units are at odds with each other

for various reasons. Each social institution has its own value system and ideal with which its members try

to identify. The value system is the rationale for the very existence of the unit. All its ethical rules are

constructed in a fashion so as not to question the value system of the unit. Any family, school, company,town, city, province, nation, or our world which we currently identify with earth and extraterrestrial

colonies has its own value system to set it apart from other units. It gives its members a base on which they

construct their behavioral responses. In a way it gives them a secure feeling.

That which gives us secure feeling has to be protected and promoted (for future security) at thecost of others. This brings us into conflict with other institutions.

However human beings at any moment are not restricted as a member to any one social unit.

He/she is a member of a family, may study in a school, or belong to a company, has some religious

affiliation, belongs to a certain caste or corporate hierarchy, and is a citizen of a nation and last but mostimportantly is a human being. It is important that for quite some time people have gone beyond humanity

and identified themselves with all living and later even non living things. Many more such institutional

membership of modern man can be enumerated.

In normal course of things a human being resorts to the ethical guidelines of these institutions only

to the extent that it doesnt go counter to his own value system such that it may not harm his/her own

integrity.

The vast majority of the population follows this rule. However some of them who may have some

genetic predilection or environmental influence become more inclined to a certain set of value systems.

These value systems define their ethical profile. Promotion of this value system at the cost of othersbecomes their moral duty. This sense of moral duty is repeatedly reinforced by the Organization (socialunit) to whose value system the individual is attached. Promotion of this organization becomes his moral

duty. The extent to which the individual identifies himself with the organizations value system defines his

place on the scale of fanaticism. However it doesnt mean that his fanaticism will make him the leader of

the organization. The leader of the organization shall uphold his value system (career). For him the survival

of organization contributes to his career. To a fanatic the value system of the organization is more

important.

Each value system generates its own ethical policy.

So now what do we have? Numerous individuals with their own value system (career), variousbusiness organizations, educational institutions, Religious institutions, families and clans, Provinces,

nations, Associations of nations etc, each with its own value system as a base on which is generated an

ethical policy. Each of these or all of these may be in conflict. Close identification with any value system

creates a fear of destruction on undermining of that value system. On the other hand those who are less

identified with a system can always shift to another value system at the risk of being called opportunists. It

avoids conflicts.

Some examples of individual value systems reinforced by immediate social milieu reaching

fanatic proportions are, hara-kiri (suicide on moral grounds) in Japanese Defense personnel, Honor killingamong various tribal communities of India, catching media attention in Britain among Punjabi families, or

suicide bombings by members of various terrorist groups around the world.

Example of institutional value systems in conflict is the Middle East, Pakistan and India. Middle

East and Pakistan have been in turmoil due to conflicting value systems of the tribes, Islam, and Army.

Each consists of members who closely identify with the value system of the organization. The Oil beneath

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has generated interest of organization that have value system based on money and power. Mostly such

organizations are based in USA, Europe, India and China. Excepting China others have a democratic value

system. But they are fanatic about exploiting the resources of nature which is counter to the value system of

people identifying with the whole planet e.g. Greenpeace and Gaia and many others. Exploitation of nature

with only money and power as value systems is very counterproductive. I make my personal inclinationclear here.

Another example: The controversy over the under sea bridge like land mass between Southern tipof India and Srilanka. It is called Rama Setu Samudram. Discovered by NASA satellites very close to the

region where the ancient God-King Rama is supposed to have built a bridge for his army to crossover the

Palk Strait between India and Srilanka to conquer Ravan the evil king. Hinduism over thousand of years

has developed a way (value system) of merging all religious sects in main stream so that conflicts may be

minimized. Instead political opportunism and fear of Islam has created a Fanatic force which is jettisoning

the old value system ofSarv Dharm sambhava- that means all religions are equal. The Christian andIslamic concept of only one god goes counter to this. Local politicians are capitalizing on local political

inclination to garner maximum support for destruction of the structure, where as Non local politicians are

generating religious fervor among the career oriented population to usurp political power.

Conflicts at various levels can have different intensity and kinds of impact. Various methods may

be adopted to resolve conflicts: e.g. Debate, physical coercion, monetary methods, War etc. Each method

adopted reflects upon the initial basic value system of the organization along with the established ethical

policies and their adaptive response to the stress of the conflict. Ethical policies become more fluid as

directed by the leadership. Responses are also based on their personal value system. In case the personalvalue system is closely identified with that of the organization i.e. the leader is a fanatic the ethical policies

can become extremely narrow, a do or die response. Also if an individuals personal value system is tooclosely identified with his/her ego or self esteem then again we have a formula for disastrous consequences.

Either we have a Dictator or a Suicide case. People with career oriented value system can also have the last

kind of response.

From the primordial responses of attraction and repulsion of unicellular organisms the interaction

between animals has, over the billions of years developed into complex decision making processes in

human beings. The decision making processes then (billions of years ago) were however for the betterment

of complete community of organisms. The process now too is for the betterment of society as a whole, only

it operates through the philosophical fabric subtly enveloping the society through the value system andethical policy.

Human beings are still limited by their physical endowments with regard to understanding their

environment. For understanding the environment we have developed various Areas of Knowledge (AOK)and ways of knowledge (WOK). Some people are more specialized genetically in particular AOK and

WOK and thus have that kind of perspective of the world. The whole society can be divided into such

categories with their own value system and ethical policies. Their mutual interactions can take the form of

conflicts and the ethical policies are the tools for resolving such situations. This also results in the evolution

of society.