The function of personal morality is to help each of us realize the meaning of our life in the world through being a person and living the personal life of a self in the world. All persons can do and must input values just in the process of being persons. Our personal morality just is the sum of our input values; the meaning of our lives just is a function of our personal morality in our personal circumstances.
Morality for personal life suggests that all progress in human life has been possible because of the liberties extended to human beings with a minimum interference by the external authority.
Whether individual is a means to the enlargement of political state or political government is beneficial to mankind, in general and individual in particular. Is not that man made a step forward the road to progress by producing fire and adapting and changing the environment according to his needs.
The individual is the true reality of life. He is a cosmos himself, he does not exist for the state, nor for, the abstraction called ‘society’ or the ‘nation’ which is only a collection of individuals. Man himself is the source of progress and motive power of evolution.
Individual good has always conflicted with the public or social good. The creative individuals have confronted with the tradition and customs and raised a voice against perverted and corrupt practices by the privileged persons in power. the conflict between egoism and altruism has made the history of mankind.
Man pursues for the better world for this own good, for his liberty. Social, religious or political authorities harass the individual most. Only mutual aid and voluntary co-operation is the basis for a free individual and associational life than an authoritative and devastating power.
Man as an individual is the unit of all social life. Culture and civilization is the relation of the degree of liberty and economic opportunity that the individual enjoys. Social unity of man-made laws , human dignity and true emancipation of the individual.
Society as a voluntary association is for the mutual protection and common good. Hobbes maintained that man is made by external forces acting upon him; i.e. he learns to be good by obeying the arbitrary rules of the social order. The basic thought involved in egoistic theory is that public welfare can best be enhances by egoistic pursuits;.
Adam Smith, an egoist believes that the harmony of egoistic interests will be guaranteed by the strength of man’s natural sympathy. His sympathy will get as an inevitable and natural check against egoism.
All rational creatures have a capacity to experience a feeling of pleasures or pain when viewing or contemplating human conduct. This is a fundamental part of moral sense. This feeling of pleasure or displeasure is not developed in all people, but may be corrupted by bad training or poor cultural surroundings.
We all are answerable to what we do. The respectable public life should be morally scanned corruption is a blot on morally good life.
We are expected to live up to moral standards to lead a peaceful, happy, and good life, where good life does not imply materialistic living standards. It implies living an honest life which takes care of human freedom, quality and justice for all. Moral goodness is inherent in every human being.
There is a moral sense as a part of human nature, an ability or capacity to recognize right or wrong qualities of acts in the same way that one is able to recognize green or red qualities in the objects.
If man is selfish by nature as Hobbes said, he has the feelings of sympathy and benevolence as promoting the interests of other persons. Without the cooperation of others a person cannot pursue his goals. Morality is pursued not only for private good.
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Elements of Philosophy 