LLinE Lifelong Learning in Europe

Editorial: An inquiry into ethics

“And what is good Phaedrus, and what is not good. Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?” This question starts the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It reminds me of the importance of a personal inquiry into ethics. We may discuss ethics publicly, but what really matters is how we live our lives.

Learning to make ethical judgements in your personal life is a process. Ethics cannot be taught (except in philosophy courses), it can only be learned. To learn ethics one needs examples, and above all personal experience. We need to become conscious of ethical issues in our practice. They are not easy to see and even more difficult to measure in an objective way. It seems that we need to learn to listen, share and discuss in order to make conscious ethical judgements. The shift to the ethics of discourse that Ruben Apressyan observes in his article leads to the situation where learning ethics becomes a practical issue embedded in professions as well as in everyday life.

When the world becomes more complex and dynamic, the ethical issues also change. Professor Kemp in his article mentions financial globalisation, intercultural coexistence and physical sustainability of the earth as essential ethical issues we need to consider today. In addition, Professor Peter Jarvis takes up the loss of meaning that seems to be typical for the high-flying consumers of today. As the other side of the coin, we can also see the creation of multiple meanings that provide raw material for the swirling lifestyles of everyday life.

The market economy has given birth to a lifelong learning market. In the end, the question is: who pays? State education system provides a framework, but how much responsibility lies in self-education. The organisations that train their personnel of course define what they value. In every case, the lifelong learning market defines the ethical prerequisites. Ethics is related to making choices, but we can only choose from what is offered in the market. And the market is governed by a super monopoly model – a weak selection with no real choice – as Professor Shoshana Zuboff argues in her interview.

Ethical considerations are related also to images of the future. Where do we want to go? The political rhetorics of human resources and human capital define not only an essential resource of the competitive knowledge economy but also our notion of human being. Are we just small pieces in a great machine, like in Charlie Chaplin’s movie ‘Modern Times’? From the lifelong learning perspective there is much more to it. Professor Jarvis in his article argues that we need to have policies for lifelong learning that will transform individuals and humanise the world.

What is our personal responsibility? To what extent do we need to take a stand on issues of good and bad? It is important to notice that not taking a stand is in fact a statement to support the status quo. We cannot escape the ethics of everyday life, even if we try not to think about it. The issue here relates to the interaction between education, learning and social change. Even if we cannot change the world, we can for our part help to make it a better place to live for all the people. It is not about doing things right, but doing the right things.

Antti Kauppi
Director, Lic.Ed., Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, Helsinki Unit
Editor of LLinE