The solution of Brazil's ethical and moral crisis is the key to overcoming the economic crisis, which threatens to bring the country into bankruptcy in 2020, when the internal public debt will correspond to 100% of GDP, be overcome the social crisis that present 14 million unemployed people and the crime rate that is not higher only those of El Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela in the world, be eliminated the political crisis that advances with the growing divorce between the State and Civil Society that jeopardizes governability.

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HOW TO RESCUE ETHICS AND MORAL IN BRAZIL
Fernando Alcoforado *
The term ethics represents a set of moral values and principles that should guide human
conduct in society. Ethics serves to establish rules of conduct that guarantee the balance
and good functioning of society, ensuring that no one is harmed. In this sense, ethics is
related to the feeling of social justice. Ethics is built by a society based on historical and
cultural values. From the point of view of Philosophy, Ethics is a science that studies
the values and moral principles of a society and its groups. Moral, in turn, is the set of
rules acquired by education and tradition and applied in daily life and used continuously
by every citizen. These rules guide the conduct of each individual, guiding their actions
and judgments about what is moral or immoral, right or wrong, good or bad.
The purpose of ethics and moral is very similar. Both are responsible for building the
bases that will guide the behavior of the citizen by teaching the best way to act and
behave in society. Each society and each group has its own codes of ethics. In addition
to the general principles governing good social functioning, there is also the ethics of
certain specific groups or places. In this sense, medical ethics, work ethics, business
ethics, educational ethics, sports ethics, journalistic ethics, ethics in politics, etc. can be
cited. In turn, the study of the character of the individual and customs is called the
moral. Ethics and morality become synonymous, designating the same object and the
same field of philosophical investigation
Roman moralists, for the most part, take up the Stoic view that the ultimate end of
human actions lies in their own virtue. They maintain that virtuous action is defined by
righteousness or honesty in the acts practiced. Moral is for them the philosophical
discipline that establishes a set of duties that the nature imposes to the man, either with
respect to itself, or with respect to the other men. Politics, in turn, for Roman moralists
is responsible for establishing the conditions of a just and happy life. For Aristotle,
Politics is the most supreme science, to which the other sciences are subordinate, and
from which all other sciences are served in a Greek city. The task of Politics is to
investigate the best form of government and institutions capable of guaranteeing
collective happiness. According to Aristotle, man is a social and political animal by
nature. And if man is a political animal, it means that he has a natural need to live in
society, to promote the common good and happiness.
With Machiavelli's theses exposed in his work The Prince falls to the ground Aristotle's
conception of politics as a search for justice and the common good. In each historical
epoch, the foundation of politics and the state for Machiavelli is the maintenance of
political power by the ruling classes. For Machiavelli, the essential purpose of politics
is, in short, to conquer and maintain power. It is based on this view that Machiavelli
coined his famous and most controversial phrase: the ends justify the means.
Throughout history there are numerous examples of ruling classes that use all legitimate
and illegitimate means to maintain themselves in power or to conquer it. Those in power
use the apparatus of the state to promote themselves and their coreligionists in electoral
disputes. Whoever is out of power and seeks to conquer it also uses unethical methods
to defeat those in power.
The thesis that the ends justify the means is due to the social reality in which we live
that is far from resembling paradise or the positivist harmony of order and progress, the
motto of our flag. The order is maintained by iron and fire, concealing the relations and

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mechanisms of exploitation by the use of the state repressive apparatus, whenever it is
necessary, and the progress has been constituted in a true illusion. In the twentieth
century, the positivist and enlightened illusion was buried that humanity would walk
inexorably toward progress. The Marxist view that humanity would always march in a
progressive direction was not realized either. Two world wars, Nazism, fascism,
Stalinism, left and right dictatorships, etc. and the prospect of planetary catastrophe
resulting from global warming deny any idea of an evolution towards a promising
future. Under capitalism, progress is a complete failure, since all the wealth produced by
technological development is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, widening
the gap between rich and poor.
Thus, the question of ends is related to the political-social question. If we understand
politics as conflicts of interests between groups and social classes, the justification of
the ends concerns the choices we make regarding the political project. Evidently
adopting either option will justify this or that end. In a society where dominates
inequality and the relations of domination and exploitation between classes and social
groups, ends are not universal, nor is moral. It is legitimate for the ends to justify the
means used, but only to the extent that such means do not contradict the intended ends.
This means that not everything that is done is acceptable. It is only acceptable that
which contributes to the attainment of the desired end and does not mean the negation
of it.
With Machiavelli, politics ceases to be thought from ethics and religion. In this sense,
Machiavelli represents a double rupture: with the classics of Greco-Roman antiquity
and medieval Christian values. In Machiavelli, politics identifies itself with the space of
power as an activity on which the collective existence is based and which has priority
over the other spheres of human life. Politics merges with objective reality, with the
concrete problems of relations between men. The policy described in The Prince with
countless examples taken from history more resembles Dante's hell than the promised
paradise. For Machiavelli, politics must be concerned with ethics and morals. By
liberating politics from religious morality, Machiavelli made explicit his earthly
character and made it something that could be assimilated by the commoners of mortals.
It is not by chance that Machiavellianism has become synonymous with a political
practice devoid of morality and good faith, a cunning and rogue procedure.
The panorama of Brazilian politics throughout its history and in the current conjuncture
reflects the postulates of Machiavelli, although most of our rulers have not read The
Prince. Despite this, many politicians act according to the principles contained in
Machiavelli's work, which are based on a utilitarian, pragmatic view based on the
rational and rational calculation of the cost / benefit ratio. There are few politicians in
Brazil who are active in defending the interests of society and its voters. Predominate
their personal interests and of economic groups that finance their candidacies. The
current crisis in the political environment in Brazil is demanding a profound change in
Brazilian society. This change would require, above all, a profound political reform in
the country that would prevent access to the Brazilian parliament of execrable figures,
ensure the presence of authentic representatives of the people and, in addition, effective
political mechanisms that would allow the social control of those elected by the parties
and by the population.
The ethical and moral crisis that manifests itself in all instances of government and
within Brazilian society is evidenced by the successive corruption scandals that occur

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every day that has become endemic throughout the country. The growing disbelief of
the population in relation to the political and juridical institutions of Brazil is a great
mark of our time. Unacceptable is corruption in Brazil that is systemic corresponding to
the use of state apparatus by government officials for illegitimate private purposes.
Another unacceptable situation is the malpractice of public resources in Brazil, which
manifests itself in the excessive spending of the public sector with the large number of
ministries and other public agencies, many of them useless, the expensive bicameral
regime (Chamber of Deputies and Senate), excessive number of positions
commissioned in the three powers of the Republic, overbilling in public works and the
execution of pharaonic works. The result of systemic corruption and malpractice of
public resources is the increase in public spending in Brazil that is excessive because it
taxes families and companies with the increase of taxes, in addition to contributing to
the increase of public debt.
The solution of Brazil's ethical and moral crisis is the key to overcoming the economic
crisis, which threatens to bring the country into bankruptcy in 2020, when the internal
public debt will correspond to 100% of GDP, be overcome the social crisis that present
14 million unemployed people and the crime rate that is not higher only those of El
Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela in the world, be eliminated the political crisis that
advances with the growing divorce between the State and Civil Society that jeopardizes
governability. The road to overcoming the moral and ethical crisis requires the
convening of a new Exclusive Constituent Assembly that, in addition to carrying out
political reform, economic reform and reform of the State and Public Administration,
should establish rules that contribute to preventing deviations ethical and moral of
public managers, propose the exemplary punishment of all that violate ethical and moral
principles, adopt procedures that aim at the transparency of acts practiced by public
managers, provide for the monitoring by Organized Civil Society of public sector
management, to foresee a gigantic effort in the education sector to prepare future
citizens committed to ethics and morals and to implement the Welfare State, among
other measures.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 77, member of the Bahian Academy of Education and the Brazilian Academy of
Letters of Rotary - Bahia Section, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development
by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning,
business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of the books
Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um
Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os Condicionantes de Desenvolvimento do
Estado da Bahia (PhD Thesis, University of Barcelona, http: //www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944,
2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento da
Bahia do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador,
2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of
Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010),
Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São
Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do
Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil-
Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes
Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016) e A
Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017). Possui blog na Internet
(http://fernando.alcoforado.zip.net). E-mail: falcoforado@uol.com.br.