Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-25
The Law Beyond the Law: A Warren Plan for Ethics

man, politician, academic execu-
tive and other professionals who
wish to discern the right. / can
conceive of a school dedicated to
the purpose of training such pro-
fessionals, becoming the center of
research in the field of moral
standards, trying to reSuscitate
the glories Of Aristotle, Of
Maimonides, of ST. Thomas
Aquinas and of Spinoza; and yet
different from their ways of re-
search in its concern with con-
crete problems of conduct, and
training people to help them
selves and to help others solve
concrete issues of personal be-
havior. The education of both
ministers of religion and of lay
specialists, qualified to help the
confused find himself in the maze
of ethical problems is, in my
opinion, one of the urgent needs
of Western democracy. as it at
tempts to preserve its tradition
of freedom in competition with
rival systems of life, where once
more, as in primitive life. all right
conduct is dictated by law.
Appeals to Mony
The business man, the labor
leader, the politician or the COL
lege executive may fear that with
such an ethics counselor at his
elbow, he might be discouraged
from undertakings he has much
at heart. But what in fact is
the alternative to such discour-
agement of what is contrary to
the public good, or the long range
good of mankind, or to simple
compassion for the individual? Is
it to proceed headlong as we are
proceeding now, deifying success
as the sole goal in life, and con-
stantly putting greater emphasis
on quality rather than on quail
ity in what we achieve? And if we
proceed in this manner, is 1t not
obvious that within a reasonable
time - not too long = the whole
world, emulating us Americans,
even If it does not love us, will
adopt the very standards which
we have adopted? And when that
happens, will it not turn out that
we, like BrutuS, Hamlet, Macbeth
and King Lear, have brought on
ourselves quite avoidable disaster?
1t happens that at this climax
Of history, our country stands at
the apex of world power, of world
resources. of world wealth and Of
world influence. This is a great
privilege, but it is a privilege car
rying with it enormous respon-
sibility. The responsibility which
is ours is to stimulate mankind
to conduct its affairs with wis
dom, with conscientiousness with
a view to the future, with an
understanding of the public need,
with a view to the long range
perspectives of history, and above
all, with great compassion for the
individual.
Overburdened Men
The situation would be hopeless
indeed If every village did not have
its houses of worship, guided by
ministers of the various faiths.
These ministers are kept busy in
our communities with various
functions. all of them useful.
They minister to the sick and the
dying; they help the needy; they
move us to recognize the great
ness of our Creator and urge us
to find a way to righteousness.
They are overburdened men.
And yet the times require these
dedicated servants of God to take
on even another burden and will
ingly to share with others, not
necessarily ordained, the task of
analysing the problems Of the in
dividual in the modern world. The
seminaries in which ministers are
trained need to prepare them for
this service to the individual in
the community, and they need to
find way to win the faith of the
community leaders in industry
and the professions in the guild
ance which they have to offer . {.
If this task of making moral
decisions guide in our lives can
be accomplished in our genera
ton, we will have taken a giant
step toward bringing ourselves
closer to the idea to which men
have been striving since the origin
of the species. We will also, be-
lieve, be doing much to prevent
the moral decay of our commu-
nifty, decay similar to that which
has proven fatal to all earlier
great empires and civilizations.