What Is Moral Action?

About the Author & Lesson

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948): Known as the Father of the Nation, Gandhiji was a preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement. His philosophy of non-violence and truth influenced the world.

The Lesson: "What Is Moral Action?" is an essay that explores the true essence of morality. Gandhiji argues that for an action to be called moral, it must be done with an intention to do good, free from fear or self-interest, and must spring from one's own will. He distinguishes between actions that are merely conventional and those that carry genuine moral weight.

I. Comprehension Questions (Brief Answers)

Answer: (c) neither moral nor immoral.

Answer: Action which does not necessarily involve morality, but is born of prevailing conventions.

Answer: If the action is done mechanically and does not spring from our own will, there is no moral content in the act. It is a mechanical act. Such action would be moral if we think it proper to act like a machine and do so since in doing so, we use our discrimination.

Answer: A moral act must spring from our own will, from the use of our discrimination. This is the criterion.

Answer: When the messenger, instead of mechanically delivering the order, does it because it is his duty to do so, it becomes a moral action.

Answer: When we all care only for what our conscience says, then alone can we be regarded to have stepped onto the moral road.

Answer: Gandhiji says that we cannot be truly moral if we do not believe and experience the belief that God within us, the God of all, is the ever-present witness to all our acts.

Answer: When a man, out of pity for the poor, feeds them, it is a moral act. When he does the same act with the motive of earning prestige, the action is no longer moral.

Answer: False

Answer: Alexander's conquests cannot be called moral actions because the intention behind all of them was only power and renown.

Answer: Gandhiji says that an action is moral if it is done voluntarily and without compulsion or fear.

Answer: When the employer sympathizes with his employees or pays them higher wages lest they leave him, his action remains non-moral.

Answer: When he quotes Shakespeare, Gandhiji wants to emphasize the point that any action, even one of showing love, done with a profit motive, ceases to be a moral action. Honesty should be resorted to, not because it is the best policy of all, but because it is the right policy.

Answer: Non-moral action.

Answer: David Webster had great intellect and a wonderful sense of the heroic and the sublime.

Answer: He once sold his intellectual integrity for a price.

Answer: It is difficult to judge the morality of a man's action because we cannot penetrate the depths of his mind.

Answer: He says that there is no morality in a person's act if he rises early out of the fear that, if he is late for his office, he may lose his situation. Similarly, there is no morality in his living a simple and unpretentious life if he has not the means to live otherwise.

II. Close Study (Extracts)

a. Why did Saint Theresa hold a torch in her right hand?
Answer: She desired to burn the glories of heaven with the torch.

b. What does 'a vessel of water' signify?
Answer: She desired to extinguish the fires of hell with the vessel of water.

c. What was her message to humanity?
Answer: She wanted people to learn to serve God from love alone without fear of hell and without temptation of heavenly bliss.

a. Who does 'he' refer to?
Answer: 'he' refers to the Greek Emperor, Alexander, the Great.

b. What is his contribution to mankind?
Answer: He took the Greek language and Greek culture, arts and manners to different parts of the world, thereby enabling all of them to enjoy the benefits of Greek civilization.

c. Why doesn't Gandhi consider him moral?
Answer: Though he went to different parts of the world, the intention behind Alexander's action was only conquest and renown.

III. Paragraph Writing

Answer: Gandhiji says that an action done for considerations of comfort and personal happiness in another world is non-moral. That action is moral which is done only for the sake of doing good. St. Francis Xavier prayed passionately that his mind might always remain pure. For him, the devotion of God was not for enjoying a higher seat after death. He prayed because it was man's duty to pray. St. Theresa wished to have a torch in her right hand and a vessel of water in her left so that with the one she might burn the glories of heaven and with the other extinguish the fires of hell, and men might learn to serve God from love alone without fear of hell and without the temptation of heavenly bliss. Commenting upon great men who have sacrificed their values for their ambitions, Gandhiji says that with one mean act, they have wiped out all their good deeds. This just shows how difficult it is to judge the morality of man's action because we cannot penetrate the depths of his mind.

Answer: Gandhiji says that a moral act should be free from fear and compulsion. He says that there is no morality whatsoever in a person's act if he rises early out of the fear that, if he is late to his office, he may lose his situation. Similarly, there is no morality in his living a simple and unpretentious life if he has not the means to live otherwise. Plain, simple living would be moral if, though wealthy, the person thinks of all the want and misery in the world about him and feels that he ought to live a plain, simple life and not one of ease and luxury. Likewise, it is only selfish and not moral, of an employer to sympathize with his employees or pay them higher wages lest they leave him. It would be moral if the employer wished well of them and treated them kindly realizing how he owed his prosperity to them.