Lesson Objectives

Understand the principles of the Slippery World of Mexican Ethics

Appreciate the difference between the Happy and the Worthwhile Life

Understand the central concept of Ubuntu: "I am, because we are."

Understand the principles of sharing that are central to Scandinavian culture

Jewish: Understand the ethical sacredness of the Face of the Other

Jewish: Appreciate the eschatological hopes of Jewish Ethics

Key Terms

Tlalticpac (Tahl-TEEK-pok)

Ubuntu

Lagom

The Face of the Other

Ḥesed | lovingkindness

A Mexican Worldview

Mexico Before Europe

• Prior to Columbus (d. 1509), the Nahau city-states were in power

     • Europeans called them "Aztec" (Greek: from Atzlan)

     • The dominant power among the Nahau were the Méxica

• European Colonization interrupted indigenous culture of Central México

     • Spanish Empire villianized Méxicans (textual criticisms survive)

     • Indigenous thought generally lacking in Western Ethics courses

     • Sifting thru their criticisms, a unique Mexican worldview emerges

The Metaphysics of Mexican Ethics

• Premodern Mexican Culture existed on 2 Levels

     • Folk Culture: illiterate, polytheistic folk gods, folk rituals

     • Priestly Culture: recognize one unified reality (Mx. Teotl)

• Nahuatl priesthood incorporates folks gods into state functions

     • eg. festivals, parades, warrior sacrifices

• Pre-Columbian Mexican Ethics was concerned with 'this life' —

     not the gods or an afterlife in which one recieves reward or punishment

The Face of a Mexican Child

• We are born 'faceless' (without character)

• Education gives us our 'face' (neixtlamachiliztli)

     • A child develops a wise face like a "well-smoked, precious turquoise"

     • In this way, social reputation is the key to living morally

• Evil is likened to "filth" (tlazolli) on the face