What Unites Us: SHOULDS

Reader Survey: How do we make ourselves GOOD? (DN 2.15)

Cover page | Preface | Introduction 1 | Introduction 2 | Introduction 3 |

(Part I) Why: 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.10 | 1.11 | 1.12 | 1.13 | 1.14 | 1.15 | 1.16 | 1.17 | 1.18 | 1.19 |1.20 | 1.21 |1.22

(Part II) What: 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.10 I 2.11 | 2.12 | 2.13 | 2.14 | 2.15

Chapter 2.15
Standards of Benevolence

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One of the failings of language is that we often use the same word to describe several different things. “Freedom,” for example, has at least five meanings (and probably more), leading to the possibility of confusion (or intentional deceit) whenever the word is used.

The word “morality” has the same issue: one word used to describe several things that are related, but also quite different.

Roughly speaking, morality is a rope made of four strands. We might call these must morality, must-not morality, should morality, and customary morality.

In our exploration of principles and protocols, we focused on two of them:

• The crimes that you absolutely must not do: violence, theft, subjection, etc.

• The one thing you must do: fulfill any positive obligations that you acquire as a result of some specific action you have taken, such as signing a contract, committing a crime, causing an accident, or creating a child.

These, of course, have a corollary: you may defend yourself, or seek remedy, for violations of the must(not)s. And beyond that, you are free to do whatever else you like, so long as you do not violate these moral rules. (Perhaps may morality even constitutes a fifth strand.)

However, just because you are (and of right ought to be) free to do a thing does not mean that you should do that thing. We must leave you free to do whatever you like, but that does not mean that anything and everything you might do is good or nice. This brings us to the two other strands of morality:

• The things you should do—things that you do in order to be a benevolent person.

• The things you do because they are important customs in your culture.

What distinguishes must/must-not from should (and customs) is enforceability.

This distinction cannot be stressed enough. It is good for you to be a kind and benevolent person. It is good for you to do unto others, give to charity, and call your mom on Mother’s Day.

But morally, according to the principles of natural law, these things must never be enforced. There must never be laws saying how “good” you ought to be, how much you must give to charity, or that you must call your mother. Laws are enforced through violence and subjection, and that cannot be morally justified for ANY form of should morality.

To do so is a monstrosity. However much you might believe that people ought to do unto others, forcing them to do so is an attack. It is a moral crime to commit any act of force against anyone who has not themselves violated one of the must(not)s.

Then, of course, we have the most subjective form of morality: customs. Something might be a faux pas—perhaps even a terribly serious one—in one culture, and yet be totally meaningless to people of another culture. Needless to say, customs are no more enforceable, morally, than shoulds.

Anyone who understands natural law (Kyfho!) must surely understand this. That is why we have focused on the enforceable protocols of natural law. Those are, and must be, the basis of any concept or system of justice.

All of that being said, there may still be value in seeking to identify standards of benevolence to which we believe we ought to aspire. Values and goals that we might choose to share as part of a nation.

Customs, of course, are an organic phenomenon that develop within a culture over time. I would not be so presumptuous as to try to invent a pre-packaged custom out of whole cloth, or to suggest that we do so together. Those will come. But we certainly can work to identify some values and modes of behavior to which we believe we ought to aspire as a community.

Today is Halloween. Each year (weather-permitting), my family and I set up a reasonably elaborate display for the trick-or-treaters. That task must begin shortly, so I am going to make my contribution to this installment short. For now, I would like to solicit your thoughts as to some shoulds that would make a good complement to our principles and protocols.

Let us get the ball rolling with a few parameters…

#1
These ought to be few in number. If there is ever to be some extensive book of teachings based on our core philosophy, let that develop over time. For now, what might we deem to be the core values?

#2
I am curious to see if we might be able to come up with a short list that is nonetheless comprehensive—broad statements that encompass such a wide range of positive and desirable behaviors and values that we don’t need many. (And yet not so generic as to lack bite—see the discussion of the golden rule in #4.)

#3
I think these can be worded simply. Our protocols need to be precise, to avoid confusion, but the wording of these can be far more open-ended and aspirational.

I will give an example. Some people operating in the natural-law space are using the word “harm” in their statements of principles, and even in their equivalent of protocols. For reasons I have written about elsewhere. I think this is an extremely risky choice for any sort of protocol. “Harm” is far too subjective and generic a term.

By way of example…

Leftists on (and off) college campuses are notorious for claiming that all sorts of things ‘harm’ them. They invent “micro-aggressions” to justify grievance. They claim to be harmed by speech and hair styles. They claim that “being white” in “nonwhite spaces” is some sort of attack. They chant that “silence is violence”—suggesting that if you do not say the words they tell you to say, you are committing an act of violence against them, or others.

As we understand, an act of actual violence—an initiation of force or a violation of consent—is morally impermissible, and protective force may be justified in response. By claiming that speech, hair styles, skin color, and not expressing the required words constitute “harm” and “violence,” they are laying the groundwork for actual violence to be used against you. They are trying to make it seem as though your actions constitute enforceable violations. Crimes.

Then, there are the higher-level architects of tyranny, who are claiming that you are ‘harming the climate’ just by being alive. By the food you eat. By the air you exhale. They are criminalizing your very existence…all justified with that vague word, “harm.”

For protocols, we must steer well clear of words like “harm” and be far more specific.

However, “do no harm” might make for a good standard of benevolence…

#4
The golden rule is obviously unacceptable as a protocol. It is a statement of SHOULD morality, not MUST(NOT) morality. And it is not nearly specific enough.

But how about using it as one of our shoulds?

I know this will bother some people, but before we summarily do so, I want us first to consider a question: Is the “golden rule,” as it is typically worded, actually as strong as it is commonly held to be?

Treat others as you wish to be treated. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

When I hear the golden rule aloud, I frequently wonder, Do people all want to be treated in the same way? Isn’t there some variation there? Do I want to be subject to someone else’s opinion of how people ought to be treated?

The golden rule makes sense as a generic statement. If one is going for a single, sum-it-all-up principle, it is obviously among the best. And perhaps anything else we come up with will suffer from similar problems. But for now, for purposes of full exploration of our question here, I would like to consider answers beside the golden rule. We can always come back to it later.

I think that is enough preamble for now. Let’s just start shooting some ideas out and see where it takes us.

I will start with a few suggestions:

SHOULDS

1. Leave situations, places, and relationships better than how you found them.

2. Consider the impact your actions may have upon others.

3. Be a good steward of the Earth and the living things upon it.

4. Do no harm.

5. Keep the peace.

6. …

For now, these do not need to be perfect. Just throw some thoughts on the pile.