The Ancient Ethos behind Ethical Design
Where does the message of ethical design in the modern era find it’s foundational principles?
What does it truly mean to be ethical in design, besides the obvious desire to “do the best we can for other humans”?
In Western society, much of modern philosophy has stemmed from the dualism of Rene Descartes but it’s become clear his philosophies that bifurcated the body and mind have warped into a “self-centric” ethos that cannot be behind the values of recent ethical design movements. In fact, many of the topics, such as designing for social good, protecting the privacy rights of communities, and reducing the harm we inflict on each other, embrace the duality of natural and metaphysical rationale within the human soul and body. This duality is shared among many ancient ethos established by many different cultures.
We examine several ethos that existed in the Axial Age (“pivotal age”), coined by German philosopher, Karl Jaspers, that provides the foundation to modern ethical design, why it is important to embrace these multi-religious, multi-societal philosophies and examples of how these Ethos directly contribute to our approaches.
*This article is not a comprehensive analysis of every nuance of ethos, but rather the start of a series into the deeper look at what drives modern ethical design.
Greek & Christian Ethos
The Four Cardinal Virtues derived from Plato in, “Republic”, are often regarded in the Western world as the basic virtues to live virtuously. These virtues exist in Christian Theology as well, with many Christian philosophers, such as Thomas Aquinas regarding them as fundamental principles to ethics and morality.
Prudence (φρόνησις) represents the use of reason as an ability to govern and discipline oneself. In short, unlike the modern usage of the term, caution, it means the wisdom of seeing beyond and ahead and using excellence in judgment to deal with situations. In essence, Prudence, or prudentia, is the cause, measure and foundation of all virtues. Without the ability to judge one’s appropriate actions at the appropriate time, one is not able to govern their temperance, justice and fortitude in situations.
Ethical Design: We can think of a lack of prudence in the unrestrained development of social media. The failure to consider historical examples and memories of societal addictions, and the harm social media could do to human self-esteem created a lack of judgment of the “good” and “bad” consequences for this technology. Now, as we see these technologies grow more manipulative, we must reaffirm prudence as one of the top values of leadership to select the right leaders to better our society and make the “right decisions in action” regarding these technologies.
Moderation (Temperance) or also known as restraint, is the practice of self-control. Beyond the translation, Plato considered σωφροσύνη, or in English “sound-mindedness / prudence” was believed to be the most important aspect of this virtue. The ability to control our worst tendencies, impulses, etc… is crucial in enabling our world to becoming a more virtuous society. In stark contrast to Ancient Hammurabi Code that suggested an “eye for an eye”, moderation exists to negate the perpetuation of violence and revenge. By restraining yourself and acknowledging non-violence and forgiveness for each other, we place ourselves in a virtuous position to influence and shape the society for the better.
Ethical Design: We can think of moderation as a trait and virtue shared by many religions and cultures. In many ways, it is a basic principle that binds and promotes our desire to be good towards each other. Without striving for this virtue, there would be no end to the worst selfish impulses of humanity. When we, as a society and industry, began to design and market our society around materialism, we’ve created a society that is starkly in contrast to the virtue of moderation.
Justice (δικαιοσύνη), unlike the modern English term used in law, really states the middle ground between selfishness and selflessness. It is the virtue that inspires us to regulate our relationships to the degree of equality between each other. According to Aristotle:
“Justice consists in a certain equality by which the just and definite claim of another, neither more or less, is satisfied.”
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08571c.htm
Ethical Design: When we think about the theory of proportional reciprocity developed by Thomas Aquinas through the virtue of Justice, we look at how we as Designers can create environments that shape equal behavior. If our fellow humans give us their attention and time, we should give them back things that enlighten their existence and encourage virtuous accomplishments. If we provide platforms that let them engage with each other in communities, we should provide them with the tools to interact in harmonious ways, and continue to promote ethical behaviors to each other, not just the self.
Fortitude (ἀνδρεία), or courage, is the choice and unwavering determination to confront the negative consequences of taking action. Whether it is physical or moral, this is a virtue we have always approved of in society and needs little explanation.
Ethical Design: We can think of this virtue as most often praised by motivational speakers, TED talkers, or people striving for change. It is an important aspect of what drives us all in being moral and ethical developers. Without it, I would not be here writing these explanations even with the fear of being corrected, debated against, or dismissed. Without it, we would not see more organizations standing up to the abuses that powerful corporations have created that are destroying our society.
Confucius Ethos
There is debate over whether Confucianism can be considered a religion, philosophy, tradition, or even simply a way of living. However, it is a system of behavior and principle that has existed in China for thousands of years. Of all the philosophies in the world, it is one of the most practical with it’s emphasis on family and social harmony, rather than relying on metaphysical interpretation. Fundamentally, Confucianism is a humanistic ethos, but is similar to Greek and Christian ethos in that the relationships between humans and morality is still sacred due to being anchored by Heavenly Mandate.
Benevolence (仁) or Ren is the Confucian virtue centering around the quality of being altruistic and empathetic. It is both the outward and inward expression towards each other, and is fundamental for a virtuous existence within relationships. Because Confucian ideology has inherent hierarchical structure, the importance of benevolence cannot be overstated as it is crucial in maintaining the balance of virtue in a society that may not be equal in status. Because societal inequality is an often realistic situation, the practice of benevolence pairs well with theological philosophy of the soul. One shapes our fundamental nature, the other our practical application towards humanity.
Ethical Design: We can think of benevolence in Confucius’ own words from Analects 6:30: “Wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.” Humanistic design is not solely on what we can achieve for individuals, but what we can design that uplifts everyone in society through education, enlightenment or success. When we think of advancements, we should always strive to ask ourselves, “Does this design serve to enhance the quality of not just human life, but human intellect, empathy and society? Am I doing this for myself, or for the benefit of others even if I gain nothing from it?”
Filial Piety (孝) or Xiao, is the virtue of respecting one’s parents, elders and ancestors. At it’s most simplistic, it is a hierarchical establishment of order and harmony through the value of respect from young to old. While the source of many jokes by Asian youths, it is a virtue that is universally shared in East Asian cultures. At a deeper level, when we look at the philosophical interpretation that all human beings are connected to each other, we can view that as a way to mean all human beings are our family. Filial piety in this form extends to mean that the respect we have for our elders of all societies should be cherished and valued. When coupled with the virtue of benevolence, we begin to see the full circle of Confucian Ethos where the old treat the young kindly, while the young care and respect the old to promote harmonious lives.
Ethical Design: Our fixation on analytical demographics and the dispersion of society into bite-sized identifiable chunks is in direct conflict with so many virtues that beg us to value community as parts of an interwoven greater whole. When we hear of how we want to use ethical design to bring communities together, we must not forget that if we are not careful, we risk turning the communities we design for into miniature nuclear societies with no boundary and virtue of respect and kindness for the hierarchical systems we create. Is breeding sources of conflict greater than promoting a harmonious world? In a virtuous and ethical world, the latter would be more preferable than the former.
Tradition (禮) or Li, is a very abstract virtue and notion that is meant to mean the ritual, decorum, rules of propriety intrinsic to the values of human nature. It can be equated to the Western philosophy of “natural law”, and is not the Western conception of religious custom, rather it covers the idea of an “entire spectrum of interaction with humans, nature and material objects”. It is one of the Confucian virtues that closely parallels the Greek virtue of Prudence, where the practice of selflessness, and the propriety of actions is based on knowing when to make the right judgment at the right time with the right action.
Ethical Design: How in the heck does the value of tradition in Confucianism even play a part in ethical design? For example, when we create products that highlight politics, we must recognize communities do not exist in bubbles as a whole or individually in just the present. We create the customs and promote the behaviors we design experiences toward creating a legacy that can enable us to positively affect future generations. If we do not take responsibility to promote a high quality of tradition that goes into how we interact, select our leaders, and understanding of rationale, then we have committed ourselves to creating chaotic traditions fed by a system of entertainment that do nothing more then to ultimately destroy democracy. Whether for good or for bad, we are ultimately one link in a long chain of influence by the past, in the present and for the future.
Buddhist Ethos
While Hinduism and Buddhism are very distinct and different religions, they share several common principles that has widely influenced their take on ethical values. These principles have influenced modern Western society a great deal, especially American society during the mid-to-late 1900s, and provide many of the explicit influences in modern ethical design.
Karma & Samsara, most importantly, has influenced modern virtues with it’s recognition that all actions breed outcomes (physical and ethical) and that life is a cycle of rebirth. With the concept of karma, there are two components, the first that reminds us all our actions produce effects, and that with those effects the positive and negatives correlate with the source. The second component is the recognition that the outcomes from our actions are not all immediate, but rather may produce results much further down the road. The addition of samara’s teaching of rebirth also teaches that our lives are not simple linear experiences. Just as a tree may grow, produce a seed, die and grow into another tree, so too do our influences and actions produce outcomes that exist long after our passing, whether through our virtues, influences or children.
Ethical Design: While we may not all individually believe in Hinduism and Buddhism, the principle of karma and samsara can be used in the practical way we approach all our designs. We live in a society where short-term decisions often overrides the long-term, but when we reflect on the aspect that we understand all our actions produce long-term effects beyond our own lives, it places a greater importance to apply Prudence in the design decisions we choose to support and push forward. When we live in a world where we no longer think of our influence on the world as a cyclical experience, we are in danger of creating self-harming designs, with even longer damaging consequences.
Ahimsa can be translated to mean “non-injury, not-hurting, non-violence”. It’s an ethical approach that underlies both Hinduism and Buddhism, and in many ways is more important than the traditions of both religions. Famously used by Mahatma Gandhi, there are two meanings to this principle, one negative and one positive. The negative connotation is the physical act of not hurting, harming or injuring others. The positive connotation belies a deeper sense of non-violence in the form of the practice of justice and the avoidance of exploitation of each other. It is the essence of giving love and compassion to others and the self. The violation of ahimsa is the violation of the very sacred dignity of every human being, to violate others is to violate something fundamental within oneself.
Ethical Design: The military has shown us what happens when the design of activities and training epitomizes the use of dehumanization and disconnection of others to give soldiers the rationale to inflict harm. We see this in our daily lives when we play video games that are designed with the same goals in mind in multiplayer sessions that require us to beat our opponents in the most ruthless method possible. We are now seeing it even more in US politics, where heavily designed advertisements and political campaigns create an extreme sense of bipartisanship. In the decades of recognizing these behaviors, I believe we have been fundamentally scarred by this violation of ahimsa in the fabricate of our society. It is no wonder that ethical design in many forms and industries are back-lashing toward designs that fundamentally violate this sacred dignity. As we strive to become better designers and ask ourselves if we “should” design something, if there is even a subtle violation of the principle of ahimsa, we may have found our answer.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this summary of some core ethical principles of the Axial Age and how they relate to Ethical Design. While Ancient Ethos’ have shaped and provided the philosophical foundation to core ethical values we want to include in our designs and society, it is our responsibility to recognize where these values come from so that we can continue building upon them for future generations. There are many newer principles that have sprouted from these principles and religions that we have not fully embraced. Be sure to check out these other insightful movements and topics:
Ethical Capitalism through examples like Buddhist Economics
https://centerforneweconomics.org/publications/buddhist-economics/The AI Ethics Framework for The Intelligence
https://www.intelligence.gov/artificial-intelligence-ethics-framework-for-the-intelligence-communityThe United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
