The UPSC mains GS -4 paper of Ethis is one of the major components of UPSC syllabus. Moral Attitudes are attitudes of individuals towards moral issues, while political attitudes are attitudes of individuals towards political issues. We shall see them in detail.

TOPICS

  • Moral Attitude
  • Political Attitude

MORAL ATTITUDE

Attitude is about what you like, and morals are about what is (or society thinks as) right or wrong. So Moral Attitude is the attitude you hold towards moral issues (where society debates what is right or wrong).

For example – what is your attitude towards Euthanasia (mercy killing)? Do you think it as right?

There are a lot of moral issues currently – reproductive cloning, surrogate motherhood, abortion, sex selection, pornography, prostitution, dance bars, euthanasia, capital punishment, homosexuality, live-in relationships, incest, divorce, honour killing, consumerism, owning personal weapons, gambling, prohibition etc being some of them. Your attitude towards these issues comes under the broad category of moral attitude.

POLITICAL ATTITUDE'

Political attitude is the attitude you hold towards political issues or ideologies. For example, what is your view of the reservation? It is time that India should stop giving reservations? Your attitude towards reservation is a political attitude.

Let’s take another example. What is your view on Communism? Do you like the ideology of Communism? Do you prefer the concept of no-state and market control? Or do you prefer a free market?

Attitude towards patriotism, democracy, plebiscite, reservation for women, eunuchs, equality, secularism, socialism, communism, scheduled castes and other minorities in politics, communalism, ideals of transparency and accountability, corruption, voting, political parties etc. comes under the broad umbrella of political attitude.

Also, your attitude towards the basic politic spectrum – left or right – comes under your political attitude.

This is a small article which tells you very clearly how moral and political attitude shapes a persons thoughts and behaviour. To read more articles on ethics , click here