The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7289 p296
6 March 2004

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

PDF 65K

Acrobat Reader

An ethics lesson from a remarkable man more
Importance of trust between individuals in a smooth-running society more
Nations should be partners in science, says UN secretary general more

An ethics lesson from a remarkable man

At last Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, the third and final film in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘The lord of the rings’ won 11 awards. I am reminded that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a truly remarkable man. Born in Bloemfontein but educated in Birmingham and Oxford, he became a professor of Anglo-Saxon and created a wonder-world of mythology and language.

Tolkien has long held a fascination for me, and I recently completed my reading of his magnum opus for the fifth time. ‘The lord of the rings’, published in 1954–55, is often dismissed as a fairy story pure and simple, and as mere entertainment, but it goes far deeper than this. Tolkien had a solid background of moral and religious belief, and used the characters of his book to illustrate the interaction between good and evil, generosity and greed, which is all part and parcel of our world today.

For instance, we perceive Tolkien’s dwarves as undersized creatures, living in the underworld and sadly tempted by gold and other precious materials into rather immoral practices. In contrast, his elves stand out as slim, erect, artistic and cultured folk, generous to a fault. They live in the fresh air and open places, unlike their dwarvish counterparts who like to lurk, tinker with machinery and gloat over material possessions. Every day in our own capitalist society we encounter these different cultures.

Tolkien digs far deeper into the nature of ethics and morality. His villains are those who subvert weaker creatures into becoming hirelings to carry out ill deeds. Their overwhelming desire is to acquire more and more sheer power to promote their overwheening objectives and to defy any attempt to achieve social justice and an overall increase in contentment of living creatures. Such individuals are common enough in our daily round, and we recognise the type as we follow the adventures of Tolkien’s characters.

Perhaps stories such as ‘The lord of the rings’ may encourage us to face the failings of our social order and to the best of our ability overcome them.

Back to Top

Importance of trust between individuals in a smooth-running society

Immersed in our busy lives, we tend to overlook the fundamental truth that the smooth functioning of human society depends upon the element of trust between individuals. This is what John Locke in the 17th century called “the social contract”. And later Benjamin Disraeli asserted that “all power is a trust”.

It is discouraging when the author of the Psalms exhorts us: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man; for there is no help in them.” When we come to consider how our social structure functions it is alarming to discover how much we all have to rely upon the trustworthiness of our neighbours. We have become used to our politicians and their acolytes refusing to accept responsibility for what they do or say, but we do expect those from whom we accept goods or services to take full responsibility for their quality.

From those who exercise power on our behalf we rightly demand probity and efficiency, values essential to any civilised community. When an expert with a background of academic achievement undertakes a function there should be no equivocation or excuses if the promise is not-fulfilled. The claim to expertise is a tricky one, and we know that as pharmacists we take moral responsibility for our share in the control of drugs and chemicals. We are proud to do so, not because there might be legal repercussions if we fail, but from sheer professional pride. It is a great pity that some professional bodies dealing with other aspects of culture do not face up to the challenge. Current thinking seems to rank commercial profit above reliability and morality, and has led to grave distortions in out social fabric. Worst of all, it has produced the menace called “globalisation” in which the merging of previously competitive smaller enterprises has promoted giant organisations that are beyond the control of democratic governments. So much for trust and probity.

Back to Top

Nations should be partners in science, says UN secretary general

In the 13 February issue of Science, the secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has written an editorial drawing attention to the need to extend to all nations the capacity to undertake science and technology.

In the world of the 21st century, he remarks, every nation is confronted by many critical issues related to science. The world has somehow to stimulate growth in information technology to prevent or limit global and regional environmental damage, to introduce new techniques, to thwart acts of terrorism and to act promptly to stop the rapid spread of new diseases. All these things are of much wider application than purely national or regional considerations. In September 2000 the United Nations adopted a millennium declaration involving eight goals ranging from halving extreme poverty and providing universal primary education to halting the spread of HIV and AIDS. The target date for achieving these was set at 2015.

Kofi Annan comments that progress towards these goals has been mixed. Some reasons for the shortcomings are slow world economic growth, slow reform rates in developing countries and inadequate support from developed economies. What is needed for better progress is a true partnership of developed and developing countries, including co-operation between scientific and technological communities, to produce a large collective reservoir of knowledge and expertise.

Reaching UN goals will require tapping to the fullest extent into human creativity, resourcefulness and innovation. A recent report recommends that every nation should develop a strategy for science and technology that reflects local priorities and supports basic science, education and training necessary to achieve local competence. Developing nations are recommended to devote at least 1–1.5 per cent of their gross domestic product to this task. It is hoped that this momentum can be maintained and spread to other aspects of human endeavour.

Back to Top