Customary Morality cannot be a Guide to Modern Life | UPSC Mains Essay Preparation PDF Download

Introduction

Ethics deals with conduct. The ethical theory offers a systematic view of our choices regarding their moral import—good, bad; right, wrong. Customary morality is morality based on traditions and customs. This form of morality dictates everything from what we should eat and how we should dress to what should be our conduct. A large part of this morality comes from religions. In modern times, this form of morality may be seen imprinted in several facets of our life, including business. For instance, a business person may act in a certain way because customs guide them in their sense of morality.
For many business persons, there is no such thing as absolute morality. They do not believe in doing things because the modern business culture demands it, but the custom of their trade instead guides them. For instance, in India, many businessmen do not give their goods or products on credit unless they have made their first transaction because they are guided by customary morality. Reflective morality is based on and guided by rational conduct. It is not based on custom or culture. In the face of tradition and habit, the rational thinker floats a viewpoint based on reform.

The problem of Customary Morality

Customary morality is rigid and hard to change. That’s the main problem with it. It refuses to change even when the change is needed. Anyone who dares to revolt against custom is punished and excommunicated. This type of morality continues ad infinitum unless society changes drastically by war, conquest, invasion, epidemic, calamity, etc.
The guardians of customary morality not only adhere to it rigidly but offer strange explanations to justify irrational beliefs. For instance, they insist that the entrance door of a house should be facing east because the east is the realm of gods; and never to the south, as that is the region of death. A large number of superstitions occupy the landscape of customary morality with no rational explanation for any. Many Hindus objected to man landing on the moon because the moon was a god to them. In the past, Hindus did not venture out into the seas because irrational customary morality made samudrollanghana or crossing  the seas punishable by stripping away the offender’s caste orientation.  As a result, Indians were deprived of becoming explorers, navigators, or overseas traders.

Customary Morality in Modern Times

It must be acknowledged that customary morality is not going to serve us well in modern times. It is a vicious trap of ignorance, and our effort should be to come out of it. The reason we cling to customary morality is rooted in fear psychosis which evokes our emotional and psychological responses. When subjected to reflection based on dispassionate reason, none of it makes sense. The reflective morality of the informed modern man finds customary morality actually non-ethical and hence stands opposed to it. It is the constant struggle between the two that is the hallmark of the present times.

Open-minded Examination and Judgement

According to John Dewey, the noted philosopher, reflective morality is critical and based on an inner examination. Dewey held that a person’s customs and habits become questioned when they clash with their experience. They realize that they themselves are the judge of their actions, not customary morality. The fact of its existence is no moral warrant. Thus, reflection is adopted and fostered as a responsibility in a person’s mind. Active consideration becomes an obligation of a person to his or her society.
As an ethical concept, open-mindedness is the gateway to transition between customary thought and reflective thought. To adopt the viewpoint that despite what one has been taught and what one believes to be right, there may be something that is possibly more right, which one may not know of at the moment, but should actively search for the same. This conscious and active search for what is actually right or ethical is the means by which a person can find their individual ethical values, as opposed to that customarily imposed in the name of the will of God or decree by a King or Dictator. This can be understood with the analogy of a vehicle as a metaphor for life. Adopting customary morality is analogous to being a passenger on a bus driven by someone else, while living with reflective morality would mean being the driver of your own vehicle. One has to be open-minded, which will make you get off the bus and begin driving your own car or exercising moral freedom.
However, how a person comes to want open-mindedness is a concept tenfold complex. People like their habits and cling to their customs. To convince an individual to cast aspersions on their customary morality is as hard as convincing them to doubt that the sun will rise the next day. For them, to think differently is to err. How does one change and become a reflective thinker, then? What driving force can there be for open-mindedness to overpower customary morality? The answer is visible everywhere around us. When we travel to other societies and receive culture shock, our instinct to survive kicks in, and we open our minds to accept the new lest we should perish within the walls of our customary beliefs. Thus, active open-mindedness may not be difficult to foster when something impresses the mind with such force as experience. This understanding can be the ideal starting point to consciously inculcate the open-mindedness to reflect upon and question irrational beliefs and practices; and draw courage to replace customary morality with informed ethical values in life.

Conclusion

It is evident that customary morality cannot guide modern life because they are the two ends of the pole. The former is rooted in irrationality and shrouded in mystery and religious conundrums, starkly opposed to the modern age of information and scientific enquiry. If we adopt customary morality as our guidepost, we might stumble often. Simply put, customary morality that decides our living, eating, dressing, and work habits would directly clash with the corresponding standards outlined in the modern age. For instance, ‘early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’ cannot guide the life of an executive working night shift in an MNC of the modern world.