INDIAN WISDOM

AND
APPROACHES IN
Submitted By:
Arshdeep 93 BUSINESS ETHICS
Payal 119
Geeta 69
Suraj 117
Ashita 17
 Introduction to Indian Wisdom
Ancient Indian facts are being forgotten and the
younger generation, drunk with modern technological
feats, seems to have forgotten all our scientific feats
which are, in fact, the basis of most western scientific
achievements.

“It is through science that we prove, but through

intuition that we discover.” -Jules H. Poincare
ANCIENT INDIAN THOUGHT AND
IT’S WISDOM FOR OUR AGE – AN
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY AND TIMELINE
 Articles cover various aspects of the Indus and Saraswati river
Valley Civilization.
 The Saraswati river mentioned in Vedic literature
mysteriously disappeared in the course of History and its story
is recounted by authentic articles by research scholars.
 The Saraswati river valley civilization is now established
through satellite photography and sites discovered by
archaeological research.
 These include together with the main Harapan site many
important ones like Dholavira.
 The articles cover the continuity of this civilization through
the sites at Magadha, and sunken city of Dwaraka.
VEDAS AND VEDIC SYSTEM
The Rishis provided the Vedas with study tools or Vedangas,
the limbs of the Veda. The understanding of the Vedangas is a
necessity for the comprehension of Vedic texts.
There are six Vedangas:
Shiksha Vyakarana

Chandas Nirukta

Jyotisha Kalpa
Six Vedangas:
 SHIKSHA: the science of pronunciation
 VYAKARANA: the grammar
 CHANDAS: the prosody and poetic construction
 NIRUKTA: semantics
 JYOTISHA: astronomical science
 KALPA: the technicalities of rituals
Theme of Vedic System:

Bhagwad
Gita

Yoga Heritage

Health,
Wellness, Culture
Ayurveda
Important Concepts in Ancient
Indian Thought:

Science from
Ancient India

Potpourri

Special
Sections
Contribution to Science in
Ancient India
 There is a commonly held notion that the Ancient Indian
Civilization excelled in philosophy and metaphysics, but made
no great contributions to science.
 Nothing could be further from the truth!
 Ancient India contributed profusely to the early development
of science in many important fields such as mathematics,
astronomy, chemistry, geometry and trigonometry, and
medical sciences.
 It is pertinent to note that due to the vicissitudes of history—
invasions, conquests, colonization, internal wars—and a
proclivity to spiritual rather than the physical matters, the
industrial revolution of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries
eluded India largely because it was under colonial rule.
POTPOURRI
 Under this theme miscellaneous sub-themes are presented to
highlight many colorful traditions, practices and other facets of
Indian traditional life.
These include:
1. Regional talent arts
2. Festives
3. Temple worship
4. Public ceremonies and celebrations
 This theme is presented as a visual content-rich infomercial.
 This section also contains writings on Hinduism – “a World view”.
 Civilization in its checkered history, this civilization also has been
maligned, distorted, and slighted by prejudiced thinkers and
writers during the country’s colonial past, as well as today,
including some who profess to be experts in Indology.
Conclusion of Introduction to
Vedic System:
We conclude this introduction with a well-known Vedic
invocation, conceived in universal brotherhood:
ETHICAL COMPASS
PURPOSE
• Goals
• Vision
• Objectives
• Fundamental reason of
organization
• Ethics
• Obligation
• Values
• Aspiration

ETHICAL
PRINCIPLE COMPASS PEOPLE
Stakeholders and their
needs and claims
• Ability
• Authority
• Money and resources
• Actions POWER
 Concept Deontologist
Hybrid
Teleological
of Virtue (Duty)

• Aristotle • Kantian • Utilitarianism • N.Machiavelli

• Albert Carr • Distributive • Karl Marx
• Vedantic Ethics Justice • Sun Tsu
• The Ten
Commandments
• Indian Ethical
Thinkers
CONCEPT OF VIRTUE
MORAL VALUES
1. Courage in the face of fear
2. Temperance in the face of pleasure and pain
3. Liberality with wealth and possessions
4. Magnificence with great wealth and possessions
5. Proper ambition with normal honors
6. Truthfulness with self-expression
7. Wittiness in conversation
8. Friendliness in social conduct
9. Modesty in the face of shame or shamelessness
10. Righteous indignation in the face of injury
There are different ways of thinking about ethical behaviour.
Some situations offer clean-cut ethical choices. Stealing is
unethical. There is no debate about it. There are other situations
where two or more values, rights, or obligations conflict with
each other and a choice has to be made.

For example, suppose that a police officer attends his brother’s

wedding and finds some guests using drugs there, which is
against the law. Should the officer arrest the drug users? Should
he be loyal to his brother or to his job? It offers a difficult choice.
Various approaches to ethical behaviour give some guidance in
making some choices. Some of these approaches are:
Teleological approach:

Also known as consequentiality approach,

 it determines the moral conduct on the basis of the
consequences of an activity.
 Whether an action is right or wrong would depend upon the
judgment about the consequences of such an action. The idea is
to judge the action moral if it delivers more good than harm to
society.
For example, with this approach, lying to save one’s life would be
ethically
acceptable.
Some of the philosophers supporting this view are nineteenth
century philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. They
proposed that ethics and morality of an act should be judged on
the basis of their ultimate utility.
DEONTOLOGICAL APPROACH

“The deontological approach is built upon the premise that

“duty” is the basic moral category and that the duty is
independent of the consequences.
 An action is right if it has certain characteristics or is of a
certain kind and wrong if it has other characteristics or is of
another kind”.
 This approach has more of a religious undertone. The ethical
code of conduct has been dictated by the Holy Scriptures.
The wrongs and rights have been defined by the word of
God.
 Since the word of God is considered as permanent and
unchangeable, so then is the concept of ethics.
EMOTIVE APPROACH
 Morals and ethics are just the personal viewpoints and “moral
judgements are meaningless expressions of emotions.” The
concept of morality is personal in nature and only reflects a
person’s emotions.

For example, not joining the army in time of war may be

unethical from the point of view of the society, but the person
concerned may consider war as immoral in itself. According to
this approach, the whole idea about morality hinges on the
personal view point.
This approach views behaviour as respecting and protecting
fundamental human rights, equal treatment under law and so
on. Some of these rights are set forth in documents such as Bill of
Rights in America and U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. From
ethical point of view, people expect that their health and safety
is not endangered by unsafe products.

Individual have the right to object and reject directives that

violate their moral or religious beliefs. For example, Sikhs are
allowed to wear turbans instead of putting on a hat as required
by Royal Canadian Police, because of their religious beliefs.
 The justice view of moral behaviour is based on the belief that
ethical decisions do not discriminate people on the basis of any
types of preferences, but treat all people fairly, equitably and
impartially, according to established guiding rules and standards.
All mankind is created equal and discriminating against any one
on the basis of race, gender, religion, nationality or any such
criteria would be considered unethical.
From organizational point of view, all policies and rules should be
fairly administered. For example, a senior executive and an
assembly worker should get the same treatment for the same
issue, such as a charge of sexual harassment.
IMAGINE?
Imagine this: You are riding on a trolley one day when it loses its path
and heads toward five workers. The trolley is moving quickly and
headed downhill with no chance of stopping. However, you realize
you are standing right next to a lever, which can change the course. If
this lever is pulled, you will still hit one other person. What would you
do? Would the situation change if you had a close relationship the
one person versus the five people?

Every day we face ethical decisions. These decisions may not include
the pulling of a trolley lever, but they do put our moral compass and
values into question.
The following are five universal
approaches to consider when
making those decisions:

What benefits and what harms will each course of action

produce, and which alternative will lead to the best overall
consequences?

This question answers the dilemma of which option will produce

the greatest benefits and least harm.
What moral rights do the affected parties have, and which
course of action best represents those rights?

The rights approach follows the belief that individuals have

the ability to make their decisions freely. It believes that if the
act does not respect everyone’s moral rights, it is wrong to
act.
Which course of action treats everyone the
same, except where there is a morally justifiable
reason not to, and does not show favoritism or
discrimination?

This approach gives the individual the

opportunity to reflect if the action is fair to the
people.
Which course of action advances the common
good?

This question helps drive our choice to decide if the

action taken will be good for ourselves and the
community. It opens the door to other questions
related to the type of society we want to become
and how we achieve that.
Which course of action develops moral
virtues?

Each of us holds internal values and morals

that we strive to maintain and hold onto.
This question reflects what kind of person
you should be and what it will do to your
character.