Politics, basically is a term derived from the word 'policy'. The process of formulationg policies is called politics and those who formulate policies are called politicians.
For the past many years, the word 'politics' has got a bad image. It has come to be associated as a dirty game being played by politicians in a conniving and a ruthless manner to gain power and extract advantages pertaining to vested interests from others. Though this is true to a large extent yet if we go by the basics, this process of policy formulation leads to formation of rules and regulations that govern the society at a large and affect its day-to-day living.
Now, the policy that is to be framed, must be bona-fide in its intent and must lead to welfare of the society. This implies that the person, who is formulating it, must be morally sound and ethical. This leads us to the concept of 'Morality'.
Morality is defined as the attribute of a person who is 'moral' i.e. one who has a bona fide intent and thinks of such practices which are in the best interest of society. This means that a politician must have morality in order to formulate policies that will serve the interests of public in the best possible way. This means Morality and Politics have to be intertwined for societal welfare.
Now, there's another aspect to it. As we see, politics has taken up the image of a bad game in the quest to power. In this game, all morals are generally kept aside and the use of "sama, dama, danda, bheda' is open for all. In this case also, morality, is still the same i.e. the societal welfare. The difference comes in approach and path undertaken so as to achieve larger good. We don't have a choice between "good" and "bad" but between "larger good" and "smaller good" where the former will lead to losses for the latter i.e. a small section of people.
A person in politics should always intend good of the most. Hence, his morality is correct if it guides him to the larger welfare. He might have to do some bad to achieve greater good but he still will be said to be right because of his bonafide intent. His actions were just to root out the malafide intentions.
Thus we see that Morality and Politics can't be segregated but still the definition of morality remains the same in all cases i.e. larger good and politics should work in a direction to achieve morality. However, morality is a human made concept in which perspective differs. Basically, it is a teleological concept where the definition changes from case to case i.e. there may be a difference in path taken to achieve a result but the end result remains the same.
For the past many years, the word 'politics' has got a bad image. It has come to be associated as a dirty game being played by politicians in a conniving and a ruthless manner to gain power and extract advantages pertaining to vested interests from others. Though this is true to a large extent yet if we go by the basics, this process of policy formulation leads to formation of rules and regulations that govern the society at a large and affect its day-to-day living.
Now, the policy that is to be framed, must be bona-fide in its intent and must lead to welfare of the society. This implies that the person, who is formulating it, must be morally sound and ethical. This leads us to the concept of 'Morality'.
Morality is defined as the attribute of a person who is 'moral' i.e. one who has a bona fide intent and thinks of such practices which are in the best interest of society. This means that a politician must have morality in order to formulate policies that will serve the interests of public in the best possible way. This means Morality and Politics have to be intertwined for societal welfare.
Now, there's another aspect to it. As we see, politics has taken up the image of a bad game in the quest to power. In this game, all morals are generally kept aside and the use of "sama, dama, danda, bheda' is open for all. In this case also, morality, is still the same i.e. the societal welfare. The difference comes in approach and path undertaken so as to achieve larger good. We don't have a choice between "good" and "bad" but between "larger good" and "smaller good" where the former will lead to losses for the latter i.e. a small section of people.
A person in politics should always intend good of the most. Hence, his morality is correct if it guides him to the larger welfare. He might have to do some bad to achieve greater good but he still will be said to be right because of his bonafide intent. His actions were just to root out the malafide intentions.
Thus we see that Morality and Politics can't be segregated but still the definition of morality remains the same in all cases i.e. larger good and politics should work in a direction to achieve morality. However, morality is a human made concept in which perspective differs. Basically, it is a teleological concept where the definition changes from case to case i.e. there may be a difference in path taken to achieve a result but the end result remains the same.
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