There seems to be a cogent justification for incorprating some process of "unselfing" into moral education programmes. The attached article suggests a mindfulness framework but I an wondering what other secular strategies might be employed in the cultivation of other-regarding ethical development.
The cultivation of the sense of non-selfing is a key component of Buddhist ethics which views an attachment to self as a major source of suffering and a hindrance to the process of understanding ourselves and others in the context of our location in the moral universe. In the Western tradition, the move from self-regarding principles is a central feature of both consequentialist and deontological ethical systems. It will be argued that ethical development along such lines may be cultivated by means of training and education which foregrounds unselfing through the letting go of life as a continuous narrative. Drawing, in particular, on the work of mindfulness strategies aimed at working up to the nature of the good life.
(Taken from www.academia.edu ; Terry Hyland; International Journal of Social Policy and Education; Vol. 2, No. 1; March 2020 pp 108-122 ;ISSN 2689-4998(print)).
The "other" in "other-regarding" seems to require that we regards others as selves in their own right. The development of fellow-feeling and empathy (= imaginatively putting yourself in others' shoes) seems a better strategy for the cultivation of other-regarding ethical development.
Many thanks for the replies. There is certainly plenty evidence that cultural evolution alone is enough to account for moral consensus and the compassion that underpins the golden rule. It is just that contemporary society celebrates selfish individualism to the extent that some process of unselfing (whether through mindfulness or something else) is deemed necessary.
Many thanks for this. I am currently fascinated by Donald Hoffman's thesis that evolutionary fitness serves to construct a false reality. Self is thus a constructed narrative which may be deflated through seeing it (along with everything else) as an item of consciousness emerging from the collective of conscious agents, and refusing to stay with the constraints of normative story-telling.
An interesting proposal. My opinion is that these difficult times require a strong collective commitment from all citizens.
Thanks for the reply. I agree about the need for collective commitment to combat selfish individualism.
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