Where Does Ethics Originate? At the Intersection of Knowledge and Experience

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Introduction: What Lies Beyond 'Knowing'

We have been taught since childhood that we must not cause trouble for others.

We must not hurt others.

We must not lie.

Rules are meant to be followed.

But is 'knowing' these things truly synonymous with being 'ethical'?

There are those in society who are adept at talking about morality.

Or there are those who can point out the mistakes of others by citing the law.

However, when asked if those individuals themselves are deeply ethical, we often feel a sense of discomfort.

Ethics is not merely knowledge or the imitation of righteousness; is it not something much deeper?

It is, perhaps—something that only sprouts when knowledge and experience intersect.

Chapter 1: The 'Dry Good' of Knowledge

Morality can be spoken of. Laws are written in books and codified.

Many people possess this as knowledge.

It appears on exams, and it can be recited.

However, 'good' at this stage is far too dry.

It is as if a desert that does not know water were defining a“river.”

“I can say good things.”

“I can point out bad things.”But those words have not been embodied.

There is a lack of the existential question, 'Why is that good?'

Chapter 2: The Trigger of Pain Called Experience

Only when a person is betrayed do they learn the meaning of betrayal.

Only when they hurt someone do they realize how violent their own power was.

Such experiences leave behind 'questions' that do not end with mere information processing.

'Why did I do something like that?'

'Why did those words hurt that person so much?'

These questions force us to look at the gaps that cannot be filled by knowledge alone.

Experience re-examines knowledge.

And knowledge that has been re-examined transforms into ethical wisdom.

Chapter 3: Ethics is an 'Internal Response'

Ethics is not about following external norms.

It is a matter of how one responds internally.

For example, everyone possesses the knowledge that 'one must not lie.'

But when one feels, 'I absolutely must protect this person,' that knowledge wavers.

At that moment, knowledge and experience collide.

And some decide, 'Even so, I will not lie.'

Others judge, 'This lie is necessary.'

What is important is not which one is correct.

It is whether there is a subject there who takes on“responsibility for the response.”Ethics is not about having knowledge, but is the very act of re-examining that knowledge within experience and taking on the responsibility to respond.

Chapter 4: The Conditions for the Generation of Ethics—The Event of 'Connection'

If we think in this way, ethics is the product of the multiplication of 'knowledge × experience.'

• Those who only have knowledge are empty even if they speak of righteousness.

• Those who only have experience are at the mercy of their emotions and lack reproducibility.

• But when knowledge and experience“connect as meaning,”ethics ignites there.

This“connection”is not mere addition, but involves the action of 'reinterpretation.'

Knowledge is, for the first time through experience,“why”questioned and reconstructed.

It is the moment when memory takes on emotion and judgment is rooted within the self.

Conclusion: What Should Be Taught Is Not Ethics

We say we 'teach ethics,' but that is not accurate.

Ethics cannot be taught.

What can be taught is 'knowledge,' and ethics is generated only by the 'one who questions.'

If that is the case, what we can do is—

prepare a 'place of questioning' where knowledge and experience meet.

Ethics is the product of a leap that occurs when the pain of experience touches knowledge.

And that leap is a profound power that can only be possessed by those who have engaged with others and held a dialogue with their inner silence.

Final Proposition

Ethics are born when knowledge and experience are reconnected through the existence of others, transforming into a meaning that constrains one's own actions.

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