Volume 14, Number 4 Article by C Manohar Reddy December, 2002
Approaches to the Teaching of Ethics : In Conversation with S K Chakraborty and R C Sekhar :
Prof S K Chakraborty of IIM Calcutta and Prof R C Sekhar of the T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal took time off from the National Workshop on Teaching Business Ethics at IIMB, to discuss their perspectives on the philosophy and methodology of teaching ethics, and on human values with Prof C Manohar Reddy and Prof Mira Bakhru of IIMB.
The discussion raised several issues regarding ethics education. Can ethics be taught at all to adults? What is the proof of the efficacy of ethics education? Do the participants behave more ethically after attending ethics courses? How does the ‘individual transformation’ model compare with emphasis on the ‘transformation of social structures and institutional mechanisms’? Which comes first – ‘Value Inculcation’ or ‘Value Clarification’? What is the relative importance of ‘dialoguing’ and ‘discourse’ in ethics education? Can a mainstream Indian tradition accommodate the eclectic approach which would make ethics relevant and acceptable to people of diverse backgrounds and traditions?
Rooting his approach squarely in the main Yoga-Vedanta trunk of the Indian ethos, S K Chakraborty explained such practices as going barefoot in his Centre as part of the holistic process which combines both the sacred and the secular rationality of life. Calling his Gita-model a perfect synthesis of dialogue and discourse, he believed that there had to be a systematic discipline on the road to the development of consciousness. Emphasis on the mainstay of Indian civilisation was not an undermining of other beliefs in society and the apologetic attitude of the Indian intellectual elite betrayed a lack of self-confidence. While acknowledging the inequality of Indian society, he contended that a recovery of our core strengths would help neutralise such flaws without chaos.
Prof R C Sekhar rooted his approach to ethics in Bhartrihari’s contention that most people are good. Given this basic proposition, despite individual transformation, without a supportive institutional framework, the results of people’s actions may be contrary to their good intentions. Quintessential to his teaching method was the verse by Surdas, in which Yashoda supports Krishna saying he has not stolen the butter, when they both know that he has, thus teaching her son a lesson in ethics more effectively than she would have done by punishing him. Students need to be taken step-by-step in the process of discovering values and disvalues.
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