Solved Ethics Papers → CSE - 2015

Q2. Explanation of Quotations of Moral Thinkers/Philosophers

Q2. Given are two quotations of moral thinkers/philosophers. Explain what these mean to you in the present context.
(a) “The weak can never forgive; forgiveness is the attribute of strong.” (10) (150 words)
(b) “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” (10 marks) (150 words)
 
Answer
(a) It is human nature to retaliate and harm the person who has harmed you. Most people wish to take revenge whenever their interests are affected by harming the person in equal measure. Only when a person has complete control over the self, can he shun the feeling of hatred and avoid retaliation. It is easy to win others, but difficult to win the self. Only a person who has won the self can go against his natural instinct and forgive other people.
Forgiving people is considered a great virtue in religions worldwide as well as in humanism. When you forgive people, you stop the chain reaction of hatred, violence and counter-violence. Gandhi ji had wisely said that ‘eye for eye policy would make the world blind’.
However, forgiveness is a virtue only of the strong because a weak person anyway can’t retaliate against the strong. When you are in a position to harm a person and yet you choose to forgive, you show your moral strength, magnanimity and greatness. (169 words)
 
(b) Ignorance is often compared to darkness or Tamas. We are all born ignorant and our mind is like a clean slate at the time of our birth. As we grow in life, we learn valuable lessons from the world and become knowledgeable.
A child is afraid of darkness because he fears the unknown. His fear gradually diminishes with the light of knowledge he gains as he grows in life. Therefore, an adult is expected to be knowledgeable by virtue of his age and experience. However, many adults refuse to accept the reality, to learn the right knowledge and remain ignorant.
Some people find ignorance a bliss since truth is quite bitter to them. They often close their eyes and feel comfortable in ignorance. However, reality does not change due to our ignorance and we have to face the truth in the same way as a knowledgeable person. An ignorant person thus suffers various tragedies in his life while a knowledgeable person can sail through problems due to his knowledge. (169 words)
 
Q2. Explanation of Quotations of Moral Thinkers/Philosophers
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