Ethics in Western Civilization

Ethics

“There is something to be feared more than evil men, and that is
The indifference of good men.”

Justice is a moral ideal that we can all embrace. It is a universal principal that transcends time, culture and place. Laws and sanctions can be traced back to the origins of human society, with the earliest known code of law written by Hammurabi. We, in America, often pride ourselves on our justice system, which allegedly treats everyone equally regardless of race, age, gender, or class. However, as individuals, we rarely stand up in the defense of injustice, especially when it interferes with our sense of personal comfort. This was not always so in history. There was a time when an honorable death was preferred over witnessing unfair practices or suffering. In ancient cultures, an honorable death was a sign of virtue and a predominant occurrence of life. During the golden age of Greece, philosophers like Socrates, extolled the virtuous life, and willi...