A ética e a ausência de princípios morais na natureza humana: uma reflexão a partir de Platão e David Hume

Abstract

This text aims to develop a study on the relationship between ethics and moral principles in human nature. The purpose of the text is to prove the hypothesis that moral principles are not part of human nature (they are not naturally inherited), but are acquired (in relation to the other and the environment). Since this ethical development does not occur uniformly, as the training process is not the same for everyone. With this, there will always be those who act out of pure convenience, aiming at their individual benefit. And this is precisely why we cannot say that ethics or moral principles make up the structure of human nature. The argument will be divided into two parts to present the arguments for the hypothesis that moral principles are not inherent in human nature. Firstly, the investigation focuses on Book II of Plato's Republic, with the aim of illustrating the problem of this investigation through the myth of the ring of Gyges, in which the impasse arises regarding the ethical choice of individuals if they had the opportunity, (the power of invisibility granted by the ring) to act unnoticed and/or punished by the conventional laws of the city. Still in that same book, in the dialogue that follows the exposition of the myth, the character Glaucon disagrees with Socrates and insists on the affirmation that justice and virtue are not in fact desirable in themselves, but for their utility and results. In the second part, the investigation focuses on the work Investigations on human understanding and on the principles of moral by David Hume, to list ways to demonstrate the distance between morality and human nature, since this is fundamental to the hypothesis of this research. Which, states that individuals act for utility, according to what they deem beneficial to themselves, or to beautify and promote their own social image and not because they are naturally ethical. Through the references used in the constitution of this investigation, it is intended to justify that ethics and moral principles are not intrinsic to human nature itself, but they are only mechanisms of social control. For, in the situation reported by the myth of the ring of Gyges, man uses moral principles in favor of his individual interests, manipulating them according to his utility and benefit. It is hoped that the combination of the two main works of this text, in the same study, will provide the reader with a better understanding of the elaboration of the moral principles that support ethics, as well as their importance for the organization, maintenance and social control.