Discussion of the relationship about politics and morality with reference to Cicero

POLITICS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MORALITY

In his book 'On Duties', Cicero makes discussions about morality and duties. He states some aspects of morality which are the parts of our daily life. I think there is a relationship between those aspects of morality that Cicero mentions and politics as a part of our life. In this essay, I will try to illustrate the reasons of why I believe there is a relationship between morality and politics or in other words, I will explain why I disagree that politics has nothing to do with morality.

The first point that I want to focus on is the ideas of Cicero about the decision making process and the distinction of honorable - dishonorable and beneficial - not beneficial things to do through this decision making process. Cicero illustrates some consequences when deciding upon a plan of action. First, there is uncertainty whether the considered thing is a honorable or dishonorable thing to do.

Detail from James Gillray's "New Morality" publish...

English: This is an image of a blank Dotmocracy sh...

Influencer roles throughout the decision process

Secondly, people investigate whether or not the considered thing leads them to any benefit or what is beneficial for them. The third and the last one is the arising uncertainty when the beneficial thing seems to conflict with the honorable one. After those steps, people decide to do or not to do the thing they consider. This decision making process is a major part of our life since our daily life consists of numbers of decisions. While making decisions, it is normal and also natural for a person who is called 'a social being' to consider the consequences that occurs through his/her actions. The tendency to clarifying the honorableness of an action which we are doing is the result of living in a society with moral values as 'a social being'. I think, like the decision making process of...