LAST TIME, I pointed out that there are two models of morality commonly used by humans: the legal model and the wisdom model. I also gave some reasons why I think the legal model is problematic.
It's important to understand that there are two models, and that much of our confusions about morality comes from the fact that we often confuse the two.
While the legal model is rooted in an analogy to government and law—the idea that morality is primarily a matter of crime and punishment, and that we are all potential criminals, who need to be kept in line, the wisdom model takes a completely different view.
It assumes that we are essentially trustworthy, that our instincts and values are generally good (small-g) and useful, and that morality is a primarily a matter of wisdom—of knowing how to best implement our natural goals.
Where the legal model assumes that humans are simply selfish, dishonest, and depraved, the wisdom model assumes that we are naturally balanced and complex.
We certainly value and look out for ourselves, but we also value and look out for others.
We are capable of dishonesty, but we also value truth.
We have natural physical desires, but they are part of a larger whole, which includes desires for peaceful relations with others, concern for community, cares about how we affect others, etc.
And, unlike the legal model, the wisdom model does not see one end of this balance as "right" and the other as "wrong".
Rather it sees the entire picture as a dynamic, constantly changing and adjusting, system.
"Selflessness" is not superior to "selfishness"; we all naturally desire to look out for ourselves and others.
Often, in the moment, our needs and those of others conflict, and decisions have to be made.
This is where wisdom comes in—not only in deciding whose need to prefer in the moment, but also in finding choices that allow us to meet some or all of both.
"Dishonesty" is not always wrong.
We lie, for good reasons, all the time—and not just to Nazis.
We lie to protect other people's feelings. We lie to protect ourselves. We lie to not waste time in awkward and convoluted explanations.
But it is helpful and important to apply wisdom in the process—to learn which lies are helpful, and which are harmful, both in the moment and the long run.
All of our natural instincts are healthy; they are all part of a larger balance within us, and within our culture—a balance that can only be found through experience and wisdom.
Morality is a matter of gaining and applying that wisdom, not a matter of law.
It is a matter, not of stifling our natural and evil instincts and desires, in order to conform to a rule forced on us by some external authority, but of finding the best way to satisfy all our natural and healthy instincts and desires—desires for our own good and that of others, for justice and fairness, for community and relationship and love.
To be continued...
