The Philosophy of Borrowing

Stealing is either good nor bad, depending on the needs of the individual in a specific situation. In Filipino context, stealing can be a form of borrowing something. Borrowing, in the sense that, properties are common goods and thus properties are shared to each other. Stealing is an act of borrowing only without permission.

According to Aristotle, being moral is to be reasonable. It is reason that enables us to discover what is ethical or not and what is best for us. It is why human beings are different from all other creature - the ability to think and be reasonable. Our course of action is largely dependent or defined by our instincts dictated by nature. In addition, nature itself cannot sustain their needs for survival because of the fact that almost everything is destroyed because of war.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, it is one's obligation to self-preservation that is man has to preserve himself in existence. In addition, Maslow's hierarchy of need, in order to survive, a person must first meet the physiological needs over the other in order to self-preservation. It is reasonable for an individual to steal in order to survive. Survival is, indeed, the basic principle of all creatures.

According to the Asian traditional concept of morality, when it comes to extreme needs of a person, he or she has the right to own the property of others. The end of one’s needs could justify the means of his actions. Though, stealing really is not ethical because you have no right to own other’s property but his intention is doing such thing is for their survival which is natural to human nature. However, there is no other means to meet their physiological needs.

Stealing is not ethical however when one is face by the choice of survival and death, one might choose to steal. In my own opinion, stealing for a noble purpose diminishes the idea that steal stealing is wrong. Food can’t be considered an item of ethical dilemma since it is a primary need of human to preserve one’s self, and every human deserves to meet his/her physiological need, otherwise he might lose himself, worst, his very life. Finally, ethics, in the concept of stealing, applies only if the thing being stolen has massive value, I must say food does not belong to the things that should be the source of ethical dilemma.

It is no longer an issue of ethics if life is at stake rather it is more an issue of practicality and human consideration. If one dies because of hunger maintaining his moral standards, isn’t it ridiculous?