Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
This is the fifth of our series of talks and discussions on ethics, and the last of three sessions where we were looking at the three classic approaches to morality in turn: virtue ethics, ethics seeking good consequences, and principle-based ethics. We were asking what a Middle Way approach implies for what we consider to be ‘good’: is it becoming a better person, fulfilling good goals, or obeying the right principles? Or is it all of these? If so, how do we fit them together when they sometimes contradict each other?
Following principles or rules is the traditional way that many people think about ethics. But where do we get the rules from and how do we know if we have the right ones? The Middle Way approach suggests that we should never take a rule absolutely. Often absolute rules create unnecessary conflict and rigidity. But that need not prevent us from developing provisional rules that we can justify from experience. In this session we’ll be exploring the ways that principles or precepts can be useful for individual practice, and how provisional rules are also necessary in society.
This video was recorded on Zoom on the Middle Way Network on 3rd Jan 2021. For more information about the Middle Way Network please go to middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
This is the fifth of our series of talks and discussions on ethics, and the last of three sessions where we were looking at the three classic approaches to morality in turn: virtue ethics, ethics seeking good consequences, and principle-based ethics. We were asking what a Middle Way approach implies for what we consider to be ‘good’: is it becoming a better person, fulfilling good goals, or obeying the right principles? Or is it all of these? If so, how do we fit them together when they sometimes contradict each other?
Following principles or rules is the traditional way that many people think about ethics. But where do we get the rules from and how do we know if we have the right ones? The Middle Way approach suggests that we should never take a rule absolutely. Often absolute rules create unnecessary conflict and rigidity. But that need not prevent us from developing provisional rules that we can justify from experience. In this session we’ll be exploring the ways that principles or precepts can be useful for individual practice, and how provisional rules are also necessary in society.
This video was recorded on Zoom on the Middle Way Network on 3rd Jan 2021. For more information about the Middle Way Network please go to middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
