Contributed articles.

The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas is a book by а philosopher Edvard Westermarck. It is one of his main works and a monumental classics study in its field. At the beginning of this book, Westermarck asks why different cultures have different moral views. To answer this question, he decided to acquire first-hand knowledge of the folklore of a non-European people. Thus, he spent four years in Morocco collecting anthropological data, familiarizing himself with the native way of thinking, and understanding local customs. In the result he concluded, he concluded that there is a close connection between moral opinions and religious beliefs.

Modern Western approaches to India often have focused on metaphysics at the expense of ethics, leading many to see Hinduism as only concerned with the esoteric and the otherworldly. The chapters of this book offer case study explorations that are selected and presented to invite comparisons with the modern West. Such comparisons will help to remove the apparent otherworldly nature of Hindu thought from the minds of Western readers, as well as give depth and new significance to Indian ideas in the areas of medical ethics, social ethics, and human rights. The case studies demonstrate that Indian thought has not ignored deep reflection on ethical problems that are presenting serious challenges to the modern world. They demonstrate that Hinduism has a firm grounding in ethics, even when the most difficult questions are raised.