How Moral Relativism and Individualism Will Save Mankind

chillibreeze writer — Karan Kaul

We as social creatures are naturally attracted to form groups or societies that enable us to survive the natural world and give us a sense of security against attacks by others in our species. Groups are formed based on various factors such as geographical location, physical similarities or cultural practices. When formalized, these groups become tribes, states and religions. During the infancy of our species, these collective units became necessary as we were in constant danger from perceived or real threats from animals, diseases and rival tribes. In order to maintain the cohesiveness of our groups, we had to come up with certain codified rules.

A culture could flourish only within the framework of specific social structures. In order to procreate, multiply and thrive, we had to establish and follow basic regulations that were biologically inherent in us. From this instinctive behavioral pattern came the concept of ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ It was generally ‘good’ to engage in actions that would be rationally construed as beneficial for the continued existence of the culture, such as diving into a river to save a drowning child; on the other hand it was considered ‘bad’ to murder your neighbor as it undermined the chances of survival of the fledgling society by permanently removing a contributing member.

From within this collective unit, a leader emerged who was usually the wisest, strongest, oldest or richest in that particular culture and had the authority to make and enforce the rules that he thought would be beneficial for his society. He attempted to codify and formalize certain ideas that were already present in us as biological entities (murder is counterproductive to the survival of the species) and put forth other more subjective regulations that tried to promote certain economic or social benefits (honor your parents). These laws had to be mandatory and presented as morality. To further solidify this concept and guarantee compliance, the idea of the afterlife was invented. If you complied, you would do well after you died and if you didn’t, you would burn in hell or be born as a dung beetle.

This is the concept of Moral Absolutism and it postulates that certain actions are right or wrong regardless of their context. Obviously, there are laws that are necessary and should always be considered absolute such as those against physical assault, but because those instincts are evolutionary by nature, there is little need for a religion or a person in power to take credit for them. The problems occur when these rules are applied regardless of context or time and it is thus necessary to question the usefulness of these moralities on a continual basis. Societies will sometimes try to avoid the auditing of useless vs. useful laws by citing the authenticity and accuracy of words written in a book or uttered by a person somewhere in the distant past.

This is essentially conservatism and it exists in all social and political systems across the world. Unfortunately, avoiding these questions may undermine the integrity of a society and result in chaos, conflicts and wars. It is vital to separate and update rules that may have once made sense but are now obsolete and arbitrary. For instance, some animals were considered unhygienic two thousand years ago because eating them made people sick or deemed sacred because they provided more food if kept alive. However, today in the age of refrigeration, better cooking practices and animal husbandry, the legitimacy of these absolutes must come into question. Indeed, some rules do have an undeniable expiration date.

As cultures continue to evolve intellectually, they start moving towards morality that is more relative than absolute. Europe, during the Crusades tried to actively impose its sense of morality on others and responded savagely against those who would not comply. Today, Europe is generally much more liberal and has moved towards a more live and let live mentality (exceptions could include the recent Burqa ban in France but that is debatable).Thus, Moral Relativism postulates that morality is subjective and different moral truths may hold for different people. The concept of Moral Relativism can be applied in all aspects of daily life. For example, in questions of sex, dress, traditions, food, political belief, alcohol and drugs, the morality of one individual cannot be questioned using a yardstick that is arbitrary and obsolete by its very nature.

The distinction can be made more concrete if one looks at it as a case of actions that affects the individual themselves or society as a whole. If the action or morality of a person only affects them, then the legitimacy of that decision or lifestyle must be respected. If it affects society at large, then a law should take precedence. Some may argue that Moral Relativism would provide conservative societies with a weapon to use against liberal ones. When the laws of these conservative societies are questioned, they can argue the frivolity of such an attack by saying that what is right for their society may not be right for everyone else. One such example could be the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. The defense of the Saudis could be that it is not within their culture to allow women to drive and Moral Relativism provides that argument some legitimacy. But, that in itself is Moral Absolutism because it does not provide the individual with the choice to determine their own sense of right and wrong.

Therefore, a concept that goes hand in hand with this idea is one that promotes Individualism over Collectivism. We, as individuals are ultimately responsible for our own well being. Individuals have the right to determine what is right or wrong and must have the freedom to pursue their interests and strive for self-reliance. This, in its purest form, goes against the concepts of Tribalism, Ethnic Identity, Race and Nationalism and seeks to render the individual responsible for his own life and actions.

But we may not yet be ready for pure Moral Relativism and Individualism. Because not all individuals display equal degrees of rationality and not all cultures are at the same level of emotional and intellectual development, it is still necessary to set up basic laws in order to protect people from one another as long as these laws make sense and can be questioned and audited by the society on a continual basis.

The realities of our world today are different from those that existed a thousand or even a hundred years ago. We are constantly changing and understanding more about ourselves as a species and the world around us. Rigidity that was required to explain the fiery ball in the sky in the infancy of mankind is not required anymore and political boundaries that divide us presently may not be required in the future. The social evolutionary trend is moving towards the importance of us as individuals thinking for ourselves, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us and hopefully, sometime in the surely distant future, we may not require any other person, book or supernatural being to tell us that is the right thing for ourselves and our species.

Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com).

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in June, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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