On the view that emerges, haumai is the source of human beings’ separation from an ultimate reality in which we are radically interconnected, both metaphysically and ethically.
This master vice is the vice of haumai, which is a central ethical concept in Sikhism. Part of this ethics, I will argue, is a theory of vice and virtue that is not only of historical and religious interest, but holds up to Western theories in plausibility and systematicity.Īccording to this theory, there is a unity of vices-in other words, there is a sort of master vice in virtue of which all other vices are vices. Despite having so many different authors, some of whom were Hindus and Muslims whose writings preceded the foundation of Sikhism, SGGS has a strikingly systematic ethics that emerges upon close textual reading. The primary Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib (hereafter SGGS), consists of 1430 pages of verse, written by 36 different authors, including seven of the ten Sikh gurus. My focus will be on Sikh ethics, and in particular on the theory of vice and virtue that can be gleaned from Sikh scripture.
This paper is an attempt to get a start at analytic philosophical engagement with Sikh philosophy. 3 And given that there are barely any Sikhs in analytic philosophy, let alone anyone who is even interested in Sikhism, it is ultimately not so surprising that there has been no engagement with Sikhism in analytic philosophy thus far. 2 However, because relatively few Sikhs reside in the West, there is little awareness of or engagement with the Sikh tradition in most corners of Western scholarship. Moreover, according to common estimates, Sikhism is the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 25 million followers. 1 This is so despite the fact that Sikhism has a rich philosophical tradition that is over 500 years old. However, thus far, there has been (to my knowledge) no engagement with Sikhism. This has included engagement with the philosophical traditions of several South Asian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in analytic philosophy that engages with non-Western philosophical traditions. After reconstructing the Sikh theory of vice and virtue, I conclude with some comparative remarks on Sikh and Western ethics. The corresponding picture of virtue is that virtue consists in a recognition of the importance of others, through the recognition of an ultimate reality on which all are One. Vice, then, comes down to the failure to recognize the importance of others. Haumai is a kind of false conception of oneself as singularly important, and correspondingly, a false conception of the world as revolving around oneself, as a world of objects there for one’s use. According to this theory, the five major vices have a unified source in the vice of haumai. My focus is on Sikh ethics, and in particular on the theory of vice and virtue that can be gleaned from Sikh scripture. However, thus far, there has been (to my knowledge) no engagement with Sikhism, despite its status as a major world religion with a rich philosophical tradition. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in analytic philosophy that engages with non-Western philosophical traditions, including South Asian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
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