Evidently, I am a moral relativist.<\/p>\n
In a recent article, I applauded a colleague for adapting to our school stage a play\u2014Songs for a New World.\u00a0 <\/i>This play, I contended, marked a quite radical departure from the standard Politically Correct line insofar as it resoundingly affirmed \u201cthe morality of individuality.\u201d\u00a0 This phrase, I noted, was coined by a conservative <\/i>philosopher, Michael Oakeshott, and refers to \u201cthe belief that human beings are first and foremost individuals <\/i>distinguished on account of their capacity to make and to delight in making their own choices<\/i>\u201d (italics original).<\/i><\/p>\n
Quoting Oakeshott, I elaborated, observing that from this perspective, \u201c\u2018morality consists in the recognition of individual personality whenever it appears.\u2019\u201d He adds that \u201c\u2018personality is so far sacrosanct that no man has either a right or a duty to promote the moral perfection of another,\u201d for in doing so we inevitably destroy \u201ctheir \u2018freedom\u2019 which is the condition of moral goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Translation: slavery, of any form, is immoral\u2014even if undertaken for the individual\u2019s own good.<\/p>\n
Incredulous, I remarked that the play invoked the imagery of the explorers of 1492 as \u201can emblem of individuality\u201d\u2014imagery featuring those in search of a \u201cnew world\u201d calling upon God to guide them.\u00a0 I wrote that while He is \u201c\u2018not explicitly invoked throughout all of the play\u2019s numbers, the invocation of God at the outset of Songs <\/i>sets a tone for all that follows.\u00a0 God, even when not acknowledged, is a source of hope and strength in every \u2018moment of decision.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I explicitly contrasted<\/i> this vision of morality with that of Political Correctness, a morality according to which \u201chuman conduct is all too often reduced to being the plaything of \u201c\u2018social structures,\u2019 \u2018the system,\u2019 \u2018society,\u2019 etc.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For writing all of this, I was accused by an editor of a publication that claims to be friendly to both libertyand<\/i> the Christian faith of endorsing \u201cmoral relativism.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, to be clear: moral relativists are as nonexistent in the real world as they are in the world of academia.\u00a0 That the left-wing relativist of the right-wing imagination is a fiction can be proven easily enough: For a brief moment, those on the right need only consider how dogmatic, how doctrinaire, how absolutely certain is the leftist about his positions on abortion, affirmative action, \u201cequality,\u201d and every other issue to which he speaks.\u00a0 If only the leftist was a moral relativist!<\/p>\n
Second, if anyone can be said to be a moral relativist (and even this is debatable) it is those philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche who expressly reject<\/i> the existence of God. Nietzsche famously declared \u201cthe death of God\u201d\u2014meaning the end of the belief in objective morality.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
In other words, Nietzsche recognized something upon which legions of believers\u2014and other (but certainly not all) atheistic philosophers\u2014insist: If there is no God, there is no objective morality.<\/p>\n
God, you see, is the basis of moral truth, that which prevents moral judgments from dissolving into preferences of taste.<\/p>\n
How, then, given my excitement over the theological subtext of this play, the manner in which it underwrites the morality of individuality with belief in God, could I of all people be seen as advocating moral relativism?<\/p>\n
Finally, if I am a moral relativist for celebrating the morality of individuality, then so is every anti-collectivist that has ever lived a moral relativist\u2014including God. <\/i><\/p>\n
This last point is particularly crucial.\u00a0 I wrote that \u201cthe use of the imagery of the Spanish sailing ships of 1492 underscores the point that every lover of liberty<\/i> aches to see impressed upon the world: the exercise of individuality, the making of choices, is, or at least should be seen as, an epic moral adventure in character building\u201d (italics added).Here, I state what should be obvious to every lover of liberty: individuality and liberty are inseparable.<\/p>\n
There is more.\u00a0 For thousands of years, theists have sought to justify their faith in God in the face of evil by appealing to human free will.\u00a0 God made human beings in His image, <\/i>it\u2019s been said.\u00a0 And this means that He\u2019s given them the ability to make choices, choices for good\u2014and choices for evil.\u00a0 Still, God knows that this uniquely human capacity is intrinsically valuable, that without it, human beings, being no different than puppets, would be as undeserving of praise as of blame\u2014and, thus, incapable of friendship with Him.<\/p>\n
It is the capacity<\/i> for choice, not the substance <\/i>of each and every individual choice, in which the morality of individuality centers.\u00a0 This is what my critic either wouldn\u2019t or couldn\u2019t grasp.<\/p>\n
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Evidently, I am a moral relativist. In a recent article, I applauded a colleague for adapting to our school stage a play\u2014Songs for a New World.\u00a0 This play, I contended, marked a quite radical departure from the standard Politically Correct line insofar as it resoundingly affirmed \u201cthe morality of individuality.\u201d\u00a0 This phrase, I noted, was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n