Disambiguating Ethics:
Many believe that living ethically helps society but is personally painful and difficult. This could not be further from the truth. Ethics make life easier and happier. While ethics do contribute to the common good, each ethic in this theory is justified by appeals to self-interest. Ethical meta-behaviors maximize both personal and interpersonal happiness. (Moral meta-behaviors maximize interpersonal happiness. Moral action is discussed specifically in section 3-4, which focuses on the ethics of moral action (while still appealing to self-interest), and in the chart of the elements of corruption, which categorizes types of immoral actions.)
People also mistakenly believe that ethics are abstract, needless rules. Five Categories Ethical Theory issues no commands. If an argument does not convince you of an ethic’s usefulness, reject it.
Ethics are naturally aversive because they are associated with guilt, a strong negative emotion. To the casual observer, ethical lessons seem attached to punishment and judgment:
Feeling one acted unethically causes one to feel remorse.
Religions commonly tell people they will be judged on their ethics and/or morals. This includes karma, days of judgment, and divine reward/punishment.
Teachers, parents, and people in general are often indelicate with ‘life lessons,’ using them to assign blame, punish, and make people feel bad.
People often invoke ethics to provoke feelings of guilt in others. They do this both to punish and manipulate.
Malicious / vengeful people use (flawed) appeals to ethics to justify hurting others.
Tragically, though ethics provide the tools to overcome negative emotions, people commonly see ethics as a bringer of guilt. Five Categories Ethical Theory provides tools, not condemnations, and champions compassion, forgiveness, and growth without self-punishment.
Almost everyone considers oneself ethical and treats one’s ethics as a matter of pride. Egotism and insecurity make people unwilling to admit fault and thus unable to grow. But ethics are not a competition. Ethical people are not superior to unethical people. And admitting flaws is necessary for growth.