FIND OUT MORE. Ancient Greece 376–377 • Hinduism 286
293
WHAT IS ETHICS?
Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the
study of how people create moral
systems and judge right and wrong
behaviour. Does good behaviour come
from duty to God or a person’s own sense
of how to live a proper life? Not all societies
share the same ethical truth – in general,
Eastern societies place more emphasis on
collective duty than Western societies.WHY DOES TRUTH MATTER?
The question of truth – what it is and how to
recognize it – is among the oldest and most
controversial in philosophy. Some philosophers believe
that the abstract rules of mathematics are a kind of
absolute truth. Others believe there is no such thing
as absolute truth, only the relative truth of individual
or cultural viewpoints – that “Man is the measure of
all things”.
WHAT IS FREE WILL?
The question of free will – a major concern of many
religions, too – revolves around the question of what
controls our lives. Can we choose our own destiny, or
are our actions limited by what has gone before
(determinism) or by God’s will (predestination)?
1 ARJUNA AND KRISHNA
The Bhagavad Gita (“the Song of the Lord”)
features many philosophical discussions between
Krishna (Vishnu in human form) and Arjuna, his
close friend. Krishna’s practical advice guides the
soldier Arjuna in his actions.4 THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, USA
Liberty towers over New York Harbour as a
symbol of liberal democracy. The ideas that
inspired American independence in 1776 were
developed by political philosophers such as
John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.Zoroaster (holding a
celestial globe) discusses
geography with PtolemyFlaming torch represents freedomSpiked crown
represents the
seven continents
and seasSociety and Beliefs