Globalinės etikos beieškant

ENThe Declaration of the Parliament of the World's Religions presents a 'new ethical consensus' of religions as the first step towards a global ethic. It takes four basic ethical directives and the Golden Rule as principles of that ethic. But the movement from the religious ethic toward a global ethic entails a paradoxical result at least from the point of view of the representatives of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - the formal separation of the ethic from God and religion: the name of God is never mentioned in the declaration. It seems as if the Parliament of the World's Religions confirms in practice the thesis of Kant concerning the autonomy of morality in relation to religion. The declaration defines a global ethic as a fundamental consensus on binding values, irrevocable standards, and personal attitudes. In order to reach such a consensus in the Parliament, the temptation to promulgate the declaration as it were in the name of God ought to be abandoned; for the representatives of Buddhism, one of the great world religions, would not have accepted the name of God in such a declaration. Besides, the attempt to build a global ethic on revelation or some religious authority would signify an unacceptable ideological colonialism. A consideration of the content of the declaration and the corresponding documents draws us to the conclusion that the looked for global ethic is a coherent set of essential moral principles, necessary to avoid a 'clash of civilizations' in the process of globalization. A global ethic has to surpass the limits of a particular religion and therefore it cannot be promulgated in the name of any religion or even in the name of God or gods. Hence it is possible to anticipate that a global ethic will be either purely secular or a global ethic will produce a new religion.