Let's continue to talk about the basic elements of morality this week. We mentioned earlier that morality can only emerge with the existence of free will and the transformation of this will into action. This week we need to add a third of these elements. The existence of morality also necessitates a sociality. Because no human can be isolated from a social life. An important point emphasized by those who have tried to explain human until now is that human beings are a social being.
For example, Aristotle uses the concept of "zoon politico" while expressing his ideas about man. He says that man is a political entity, that is, living together is a matter of his nature. Again, Aristotle said that human beings cannot be self-sufficient when their limbs are separated from each other, and people cannot be self-sufficient when they leave society, saying that human beings can only exist in sociality.
In addition, Farabi also drew attention to the position of human beings in society and stated that human beings can reach their purpose of existence in social life. Ibni Khaldun tries to explain this while using the concept of "Medeniyyun bit'tab". In other words, according to Ibni Khaldun, man has to live together due to his nature. These thinkers and many others we have exemplified attribute both the reason for existence and the possibility of existence to the necessity of living together.
After reaching the conclusion that man is a social being; While evaluating the moral relationship between people and society, the main point we need to draw attention to should be what we mean by society. It is a fact that man has an obligatory relationship with other people. At the same time, man has to establish a relationship with other living and non-living beings. Considering the society with which the individual is only a community of people will cause us to confine morality to a narrow space. Therefore, when we say society, it is appropriate to understand that each individual includes all living and non-living beings except the people with whom they are related. When we handle it in this way, we place morality in the whole sphere of life.
The human understanding of our age is basically based on prioritizing the personal interests of the individual. Accordingly, the interest of the person is legitimate and good. Even if you want to put a limitation on this, other people are taken into account at most. But a sense of responsibility towards life and the environment in nature cannot find a place in this understanding. According to a research conducted in the past years, close to 8 billion people make up 0.01 percent of all living things on earth. And this research says that such a small human population has destroyed 83 percent of the animals and half of the plants on earth.
The sociality of morality appeals precisely to this point. Extending the responsibility of man to include all living and non-living nature. Therefore, the good or bad behavior we do against a person will be the subject of morality, as well as our treatment of animals or our attitude towards nature. When we evaluate the relationship of morality with society from this point of view, we can see how wide the issue has gained. While explaining the reason for the existence of morality as sociality, it is obvious that we should also consider this horizontal hierarchy.