The New Ethics

An Analysis of Ethical Aspects of the New Age Movement

Abstract

The first part of the article puts forward a brief phenomenological expose of the New Age movement and describes the causes for its emergence out of the general phenomenon of religious movements as well as its connection to postmodernist thought and social dynamism. New Age is considered an offshoot of the postmodern condition of the spirit which negates critical scientific knowledge and favours instead new irrational thought systems. The second section deals with some of the most salient ethical ele- ments in the New Age ideology, such as ethical relativism, ethical subjectivism and the lack of social ethics. The author considers that the so-called new ethics is also a part of the global postmodernist worldview as regards ethical patterns which are strongly characterized by minimalistic morality, release from absolute duty, negation of the objective foundations of morality, etc. The consequences of such »voluntaristic relativism« has its serious ethical repercussions for the spiritual condition of the individual who is left to fend for himself and is given over to self-help techniques, but also for society, since social strategy is being abolished in favour of individual action. Still, the New Age phenomenon indicates without a doubt the lack of a classic supply of religions, and so needs to be examined in order that the void brought on by modern society may be identified and replenished.