Social and Personal Morality

Been awfully quiet around here as we all try to get resettled into some form of normal after the move and before the snows restrict outside projects.  Still, getting away for four days with some friends and family to the cabin for a late summer escape.  Conveniently, the Perseid meteor shower maxes during our stay in the woods.  I foresee some time staring up at the stars and contemplating the bigger things.

In the meantime, this turned up in my inbox today.  To my way of thinking, murder is just a very severe form of theft and social morality can actually be slimmed down to just that single basic point.  However, it is an interesting issue to think about.  Come to the cabin some time.  We'll watch the stars and talk about it:

Sadly, the word “morality” often causes confusion. Some will say that “you cannot legislate morality,” yet everyone approves of legislation against moral wrongs like theft and murder. This confusion is a cultural problem which must be fixed. We will be more effective if we can teach our neighbors to distinguish between ...

Social Morality & Personal Morality

Some moral principles govern how we treat each other. This is “ social morality .” It includes standards like ...

• The Golden Rule: Respect the conscience of others, as you desire them to respect your conscience.
• The Zero Aggression Principle: Don’t tread on others.

These standards lead to laws against assaults, murder, fraud, and theft. Nearly everyone supports these rules. And even the worst dissenters still agree to some extent...

In contrast to this are moral principles that govern how we treat ourselves ...

• What we ingest
• How we worship
• What we wear
• How we have sex

There’s far less agreement about this kind of morality. It’s highly personal. So we call it “ personal morality .”

Here’s the crucial point...

To impose your personal morality on others requires you to initiate force against them. You must tread on their personal conscience. Doing this violates social morality.

Some may consider this a good trade, but...

• What you can do to others, others can do to you.
• When you give politicians the power to impose personal morality, the morality they prefer to impose will RARELY be yours.
• This is your choice: Do you want the law to enforce social morality, or someone’s version of personal morality? It cannot do both.
• If you choose to permit politicians to enforce personal morality, then you will need to violate social morality, by treading on others. But ...
• If you restrict law and coercion to the enforcement of social morality, then you will still retain the right to use persuasion to promote your personal values.

 

--Perry Willis