We explain what ethics and citizenship are, and how they relate to each other. In addition, we tell you what citizen ethics is, with examples.
What are ethics and citizenship?
Ethics and citizenship are fundamental notions for life in society, linked to the way in which people relate to each other and to institutions. It is a set of attitudes, dispositions and moral values that organized society seeks to promote in individuals, in order to build a more just, harmonious and functional society.
In that sense, We must understand “ethics” as the moral understanding of human behavior that is, to the reflection on what types of behaviors are good, that is, desirable, given that they benefit the community and contribute to the improvement of the social fabric.
Ethics is an extremely ancient philosophical discipline, with which the classical thinkers of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome dealt extensively, and whose historical development is diverse and complex. It is possible to understand it not only as a reflection on the morality of actions, but also as a response, a way to help channel human behavior towards good.
For its part, Citizenship is a legal and juridical concept that arises from nationality that is, the formal belonging of an individual to a specific State and its laws. But it can also be much more than that. The ancient Greek philosophers understood citizenship as the condition by which human beings can aspire to “live a good life.”
Citizenship, thus, is the condition of being a citizen, understood not only as being someone who lives in society (from the Latin civitas“city”), but as be a subject of political, social and economic rights that is, having freedoms and commitments with respect to the community.
At the point of contact between ethics and citizenship is, thus, citizen ethics, which is the consideration regarding the correct way to exercise one's rights and fulfill one's duties. Or, put another way, it is a reflection on what is the correct way to be a citizen, and what it means to be a virtuous citizen.
See also: Digital citizenship
Relationship between ethics and citizenship
In your Policythe Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) explained that the State is not simply an agglomeration of people brought together in any way, but “a gathering of citizens associated by mutual agreement to observe justice and by community of interests. ”. This means that Behind the rights and obligations conferred by citizenship, lies the principle of justice that is, the common well-being, which is an ethical perspective.
Therefore, citizenship and ethics are closely linked if we understand the first as something more than simply having a nationality or living in a certain city. Citizenship is also the way in which we relate to others, to institutions, to an idea of society shared with the rest of the people.
That is why a person who disrespects traffic signs, who fails to comply with his civic obligations, who thinks that his personal and individual well-being is above the well-being of the rest of the community, will have no place in the latter and will not be considered a citizen.
On the other hand, Exercising citizenship in democratic nations implies having some degree of participation in political leadership of society: either occupying active roles, or joining decision-making through suffrage. By doing so, citizens work for the common well-being.
What is citizen ethics?
Citizen ethics can be understood as the crossing point between ethics and citizenship, given that consists of reflection on what is the way to be a virtuous citizen that is, what is the appropriate, desirable, correct behavior of a good citizen. Citizen ethics is what dictates what moral parameters citizens should have. For example: respect the law, respect human rights, act honestly, tell the truth, among others.
Training in citizen ethics not only seeks to defend order and the peaceful and fair resolution of conflicts, but also points to preserve the dignity of people through ethical principles universally shared by members of society.
Why is it important?
Throughout history it has been shown that the most prosperous, most organized nations that offer the best quality of life to their inhabitants are those in which there is an important civic ethic. This is because The commitment of citizens to collective well-being also guarantees individual well-being both your own and someone else's.
Therefore, Citizen ethics is the main tool available to create virtuous citizens that are needed. The dilemma is, as is often the case, in the decision regarding what is virtuous behavior and what is base behavior, given that these values are not usually universal, and can change over time or differ substantially from one people to another.
Example of citizen ethics
An example of citizen ethics and its importance is the case of Finnish society. This European republic of around 5.5 billion inhabitants is famous for its high standards of living and its outstanding results in the international transparency ranking, such as those carried out by the NGO Transparency International (TI).
That is to say that It is one of the countries with the lowest margins of corruption in the world. This is known internationally as a “high level of moral development.”
It is difficult to determine whether Finland's moral development is due to its economic prosperity or whether the latter is a consequence of its moral development. However, The Finnish authorities themselves recognize the efforts made in formal and civic education.
Precisely, civic education is a key element in the construction of a culture that rejects individual benefit at the expense of the collective, that rejects corruption and abuse of power, that understands economic disparity and criminal impunity as problems, and that therefore Therefore, it demands from its rulers a set of efficient, transparent and controlled institutions. In this way, the State forms virtuous citizens and they in turn build a more transparent, fair and effective State.
Finland's moral success, according to the 2012 Foreign Minister, Social Democrat Erkki Tuomioja, lies in four great strengths:
- An education in moderation, self-control and common well-being.
- A strict surveillance of the State institutions over itself.
- The prominence of women in political decision-making.
- The low inequality in income and the existence of adequate salaries.
These four elements, according to Tuomioja, are key to the construction of a first-order citizen ethic, which educates virtuous citizens and through them also demands virtuous institutions, in a positive feedback loop whose fruits are, at least in the case of Finland , being considered as a role model.
Continue with: Citizen participation
References
- “Ethics” on Wikipedia.
- “Citizenship” in the Asylum Dictionary of the Refugee Assistance Commission in Euskadi (Spain).
- “Ethics and citizenship (conference)” (video) by Fernando Savater at the Alfonso Reyes Chair.
- “Ethics and citizenship” (video) at the Continental University (Peru).
