GOOD CHARACTER LEADS TO GOOD DECISIONS Henry Saindi – Gregorian University Rome One question that bothers my mind when seeing people taking decisions is what drives them in their decisions. What core values guide people as they fulfill their roles and responsibilities in the society? One fact stands out clear to me, in whatever decisions people take they are driven by some factor. Some decisions are result or consequence-based; others are duty-based; and still others are character-based. First, decisions that are end or result-based. The Greeks called teleos, the end, the result-based decisions. Perhaps we have heard the expression, the end justifies the means. It is result or end qualifies the decision taken. Moral worthy of an action is judged by the relative goodness or badness of its consequences. The action that produces the most good is right. Under this, one can steal in order to help the poor. Deception is acceptable insofar as it serves a good result. Following this logic, no decision nor action is inherently right or wrong in itself, only the result or consequence can be judged as right or wrong. The problem with this approach lies in the determination of what exactly can be classified as good. Egoists hold that an individual should always do what will promote his own greatest good. Utilitarians are convinced that something is right or good if it is or probably is conducive to the greatest possible balance of good and evil everywhere. Others also connect the good with some decision or action what brings greatest happiness or pleasure for the greatest number of people. In all this we see that either there is emphasis on personal good or the good of majority. This logic is flawed in two ways. On one hand, too much focus on personal good leads to selfish and egoistic decisions. On the other hand, too much emphasis on the majority can easily lead to decisions that ignore the interests of the vulnerable minority groups. Again, it is extremely difficult to decide before hand what consequences one’s actions and decisions can bring both in the short and long term. Is it always possible to be sure of the outcome of one’s decisions? This brings us to decisions based on principles of duty, from the Greek deon, “duty”. We have category of people whose actions are based on principles and obligations. Kant advanced this line of thinking that all persons have a duty to behave morally correctly even if it is contrary to their character or desires. What is important is no longer the consequences of one’s act and decision but the intention or the motive behind the act. A decision is justified if the intentions of the doer are good regardless of its consequences. According to this logic, deception would be a taboo because it is against the principle of truth. One cannot steal in order to help the poor because it is against the duty to behave in a manner that is morally correct. This logic has also its own shortfalls. At times, the sense of duty does not take into account that there could be some compelling reasons to forsake one’s principles in certain situations. Is this not the rigid absolutist and legalist mentality for which Jesus criticizes the priests and Levites in the parable of the good Samaritan? (Lk 10:25-37). Blind adherence to a categorical imperative is an unrealistic ideal. Now we come to character-based decisions or actions. The golden mean of the two approaches discussed above. It brings to the fore the figure of Aristotle. More so, this has direct resonance with the gospel of Christ. The above approaches have one thing in common, they focus on the acts or decisions of the person and not on the individual. Decisions cannot be divorced from the person. Actions and decisions reveal the character of the doer. Hence, the need for the formation or building of good character which in turn is capable of taking good decisions. Now you see, “good character leads to good decisions”. But what is character, ethos in Greek? It is a complex whole of who we are (mental and ethical traits). It stands for what we do when nobody is looking at us. It’s an accumulation of thoughts, values, words, decisions and actions which habitually become one’s character. Character counts! A person of good character thinks right and does right. His life is in harmony with core values that define a good person (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship. The primary character building force in the life of every child is the family. Parents have the primary task of inculcating in their children standards of good character. The society too (teachers, friends, people we admire, stories we hear, books we read, TV shows and movies we watch etc) does influence the formation of one’s character. Who we are is a product a complex reality under the process of continual formation. Two-step flow of communication theory shows us also that we cannot ignore interpersonal communication in the transmission of values that build one’s character. When all is said and done, two things stand out clear in the building of one’s character: CREDIBILITY and INTEGRITY. Integrity is what you think of yourself; credibility is what other people think about you. These two are directly linked. One cannot maintain his integrity when credibility is lost. Aristotle, one of the major exponents of virtuous life would say, “a person with a good character shuns any form of extremity and always chooses a path in between. As they say, virtue lies somewhere between vices. The underlying principle is the recognition that what one does or fail to do has an influence on the people. And that influence can be good or bad. And the character of the doer comes into play. A person of good character would therefore shun everything that puts his integrity at jeopardy thereby losing his credibility. We are therefore tasked to build our character and work on it all the time. In that way, we can become the type of person who is likely to make sound decisions for the right reasons. Jesus confirms this logic: “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit (Mt 7:16-16). So, good character breeds good decisions!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:47:12 +0000