THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR REPRESENTED AS ‘WORLDVIEW’

ALPARSLAN AÇIKGENÇ

ABSTRACT

Moral behavior is one phenomenon among others that is manifested by man as
a comprehensive part of his humanity. This is because moral behavior brings a
responsibility that is meaningful only within a context of rational reflection; for, a moral
behavior is intrinsically distinguished from other forms of animal behavior in that
these animal behaviors would be naturally punished if natural laws are not obeyed. But
there is no such mechanism in the moral law and in fact it may go unpunished if not
controlled by a legal system. Moral system and the legal system are, therefore, intimately
related. Of course, many moral principles cannot be controlled by the law either; they
are as such based necessarily within the conscience of the individual, such as one ought
to help others, one ought to be sincere in his doings, selfishness is to be avoided, one
ought to be courageous and generosity is a virtue. Due to this nature of morality, the
moral behavior is uniquely a human phenomenon. Since the most outstanding human
characteristic that distinguishes man from the rest of the animals is rational reflection, it
is consequently the case that moral behavior is exclusively human, and hence it is based
upon some mental activity. Since at the outset we are not yet clear about the ground of
moral behavior, we shall, as we have just done, designate it by a general phrase ‘mental
activity’. It is because of this ambiguity that we shall first try to demonstrate the ground
of a moral act and then attempt to compare the Aristotelian ethics with the Islamic ethics
from this perspective.