Rotary’s Object & Four-Way Test

The Object of Rotary

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the Ideal of Service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

1st: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

2nd: High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

3rd: The application of the Ideal of Service by every Rotarian to his personal, business, and community life;

4th: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men united in the Ideal of Service.

The Four-Way Test

Moral codes and ethics give us tools but also raise questions to be answered: How should we live? What is morally good and bad, right and wrong? Shall we aim at happiness or knowledge? Virtue or the creation of beautiful objects? If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all?

And what of the more specific questions that face us? Is it right to be dishonest for a good cause? Can we justify living in opulence while elsewhere in the world people are starving? Is going to war warranted in cases where innocent people will likely be killed?

Ethics deals with such questions at all levels. The subject’s core consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong.

For Rotary, The Four-Way Test is the cornerstone of all action. It has been for years, and it will be in the future. Of the things we think, say or do

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

The test is one of the hallmarks of Rotary. Since it was developed in 1932 by Herbert J. Taylor, who later became RI president, it has never ceased to be relevant. Its four brief questions are not based on culture or religion. Instead, they are a simple checklist for ethical behavior. They transcend generations and national borders.