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UPSC 2017 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words

The crisis of ethical values in modern times is traced to a narrow perception of the good life. Discuss.

What “Discuss” demands

present several distinct facets of the issue and connect them into an argument, giving the competing views real weight rather than one line each.

The characteristic failure: a list of points with no argument running through them.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • The narrow perception: the good life equated with consumption, income and status — a materialist and narrowly utilitarian framing
  • Consequences: erosion of trust, environmental externalities, corruption as rational self-interest, competitive individualism
  • Philosophical counterweights: Aristotle's eudaimonia and virtue, Gandhi's Seven Social Sins and trusteeship, Amartya Sen's capability approach against income measures
  • Indian anchors: the purusharthas balancing artha and kama against dharma and moksha, and the Buddhist middle path
  • Policy expression: Gross National Happiness, the Human Development Index and the SDGs as attempts to widen the measure of a good life

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