Limitations of the moral approach

Moral approach has several limitations also. Social systems are so powerful that one or two transformed persons would not be able to change them. Great men like Buddha, Mahavir, Aurobindo, Tolstoy and Gandhi have not been able to change the norms and institutions of society. Good people can attempt to create an atmosphere but society can be happy only when their actions are able to change the rules of the game. Also in a world based on violence, greed and materialism it is unlikely that many people will pursue the goal of Truth and contentment. Pursuing the path of Truth will be seen as fit for only rare persons. Indians believe that Gautam became the Buddha not due to his upbringing or conditions of this life only. He progressed to Buddhahood geadually by practicing love and compassion for thousands of lives. Ordinary persons depend on their happiness on the worldly pleasures only.

Moral education does not contain a serious scientific analysis of social processes and social policy. We have discussed the images of desired future. Can we ever actualize those images with the moral approach without seriously engaging in social scientific analysis of mechanisms of socio-economic and demographic changes and acting on the basis of their implications? For social interventions we need a social analysis and the institutional approach.