Pre-Discussion: Source of Moral Authority Essay
The source of moral authority is often difficult to define because moral values are often different from existing legal norms and values. Therefore, people often have difficulties with the adequate definition of moral values. In such a situation, people tend to appeal to the authority of reputable individuals, some important sources, such as religious books and philosophy. At the same time, people should define the moral values on the ground of the existing social norms and standards, legal laws and personal beliefs and values.
In this respect, I can refer to my personal experience. The major source of moral authority for me is existing social norms and standards along with the dominant social standards. In such a way, the social values become the major source of moral values and moral authority. On the other hand, social standards may vary and we absorb them from the beginning of our life in terms of the family education and socialization.
At the same time, I do not always follow the golden rule because I cannot keep following the golden rule all the time. Sometimes I have to change my behavior and to introduce some changes in my behavior, which do not always match the golden rule. In fact, it is extremely difficult to follow the golden rule. We have to take decisions in different situations but we have to make right choices. In such a situation, our personal interests may come into conflict with moral values and norms. As a result, I have to take hard decisions.
At the same time, I follow the law because the disobedience to the law violates not only social or moral norms but also legal ones. As a result, individuals violating the law face a risk of the punishment for the disobedience to the law. On the other hand, existing laws basically mirror existing social and moral norms. As a result, through the obedience to the law I follow existing moral and social norms and the law is one of the highest moral authorities, which define my behavior as well as the behavior of other individuals.
However, the law and the golden rule are not always sufficient indicators of good and wrong. In fact, we can confront situations, when we have to take difficult decisions. For instance, the law as well as moral values condemns theft because it is illegal and contradicts to basic moral norms. However, there are situations, when an individual have to steal to save the life of his or her spouse or child, the legal and moral norms may be neglected. For instance, a father, who has no money and has a seriously ill child, he has the only option to steal money or medicaments to save the life of his child.
In addition, there are religions and sacred books which have basic moral values and norms. In this regard, I do not follow Bible, Talmud or Koran, although I believe that each scared book of different religions have its own moral and philosophic values. I believe that sacred books contained important social and moral norms and values. However, we cannot follow them strictly because the contemporary society is multicultural, whereas a large part of the society is atheistic.
Thus, moral authority has different roots, which are extremely important.
