GS4 PYQ (Mains Answer Writing): Socrates, Gandhi, Abdul Kalam-Thinkers | UPSC Mains: Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude PDF Download

What do each of the following quotations mean to you? (UPSC MAINS GS4)
(A) "An unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

• Socrates was a Greek moral philosopher and a proponent of virtue ethics. In his times, philosophers normally agreed that knowledge is something that brings virtue to person. Being virtuous was end in itself for some and a means to good life for others. Hence, examination of your life, its ends, its meaning, raising questions like what is a life worth living etc. were necessary to find problems with and limitations of present state of living. 
• For me, it means that simply living i.e. following gives goals of life through already chartered paths is not a good way to live and shrinks the canvas of life. Each one of us should sometime in our lives must question the things around us, the norms that we live under, the goals that we are made to chase as adult members of a cultural community, the roles we are expected to engage in etc. 
• One must fundamentally doubt everything at least theoretically not to disrupt everything but to get clarity about what is good and what is bad in what one does normally. It makes us authentic and helps us realize our true selves. It creates originality in our being. This makes our lives truly ours. It doesn’t reduce us to a cog in the wheel of large societal necessities. Basically, this examination is a quest to become a free individual where grammar of one’s life is based on conscious, free choices one makes.

(B) "A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." - M. K. Gandhi

• This quote explains how one’s thoughts largely determine what one becomes. This is because, borrowing from John Locke, human mind is a clean slate at the time of birth. With socialization, it learns. So, it is what we think develops into our attitude. This attitude reflects in our behaviors also. 
• If one thinks positively, a sense of hope and optimism will develop. This will push person to take lead, act and affect change. On the contrary, if one thinks negatively, it breeds hopelessness and pessimism. It chokes initiative. This can be corroborated with various examples. Hitler, at his cognitive level, was adamant that Jews were responsible for all the problems of Germany.
• This developed into a feeling of hatred and manifested into behavior of anti-Semitism. On the contrary, Mandela understood that forgiveness is better than revenge and justice is better than reconciliation. This thought converted into an attitude of humility and compassion and manifested into post-apartheid policy of Mandela. This is so because our thoughts are seeds of our attitude and behaviors.
• This can be understood through analyzing Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral components of attitude formations. In ancient Indian texts also, it has been advised to keep thoughts high and clean as what we continuously think becomes our Vritti. This becomes our disposition and goes out of conscious control also. In long term, guiding our small actions, without our realizing, it determines our destiny.

(C) "Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world." - A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

• To me, this quote basically means that it is individual moral conduct that determines what kind of world we make. Socrates argues that state is individual writ large. It is also said that people make institutions and institutions build nations. Elsewhere, we have seen that states are not moral agents but humans are. 
• What these statements together indicate that the unit of our world is ultimately individual and his moral conduct. Rather than giving speeches about grand changes that should come in world, one should work on his moral framework. That will pass on to next generation through socialization. 
• A society or community will uphold the values that each family constituting it upholds. This is because ethics helps build relationships. A society with good value system will elect such government. That government will be accountable to people and make appropriate policies. Amartya Sen argues that in a democracy, people get the government they deserve. 
• This way, we can realize that ultimate values guiding our civilization at a particular time will be average of what majority of individuals feel strongly about. If people are largely honest, as in Japan, its politics will be in accordance. It people are corrupt, it will also get reflected in all institutions Hence, Gandhi said that be the change you want to see in the world.