Negative Morality: The Divine Hierarchy

Morality:
Intuitionism
Authoritarianism
Divine Command and Attributes
Ethical Egoism
Utilitarianism
Virtue and the Golden Rule

Negative Morality:
Divine Hierarchy

A year ago, we did a series on morality, where we looked at the philosophy of morality, and the moral systems that are discussed in intellectual conversations. Since then, it occurred to me while thinking about the viewpoints of villains and bad people, as well as some misguided people with good hearts, that there are other moral views we have not talked about. These moral systems are not widely considered by philosophers, because they cause oppression and suffering, rather than reduce it. So I have decided to do a mini-series called Negative Morality, where we take a look at these moral systems, so that we may avoid their pitfalls in our own views.

If I were to start the moral series over, I would put Ethical Egoism and Authoritarianism in the negative morality category. But the original series has a structure to it, and I don’t want to mess that up by reclassifying them.

Our topic for today is what I call the divine hierarchy. The concept is simple: the degree to which you are good or evil, holy or unholy, worthy or unworthy, is not primarily determined by what you do, but by what you are. It usually goes something like this: above all are the gods (or just God), beneath them are holy beings like angels, below them are mortal men, below mortals are the animals, and below the animals are demons and unholy monsters. Within each category, humans especially, the beings may be divided into sub-classes, which may either be stratified into discrete levels or smeared out over a continuous spectrum.

This leads to the divine hierarchy’s biggest and most obvious flaw: it makes it very easy to justify prejudice of all kinds. In the hierarchy, men are usually placed above women, the upper classes above the lower classes, and the people of the nations whose armies conquer above the peoples who are conquered. For example, the West has a historical dark side of seeing the world as full of morally inferior savages, theirs for the conquering. History is much more complicated than that, of course, with many positives and negatives, and it can be argued that the attitude of colonialism has greatly diminished from the modern world, but that is a discussion for another time. The point is that a morality structured around a divine hierarchy makes it easy to justify racism, sexism, and discrimination by all other kinds of immutable characteristics. “Know your place” is a common phrase to hear from someone higher in the hierarchy to someone lower down who tries to exercise more freedom than is considered appropriate for them.

In some versions of divine moral hierarchy, it is possible to move up or down the spectrum by performing good or bad actions. More often than not, it’s easy to move down, but very hard to move back up. There is a set of actions, usually based on notions of cleanliness and obedience, that are identified as “bad,” not because the consequences hurt people, but because the action covers you with an invisible sludge called “sin” and makes you less holy. Once covered in sin, there is one of two ways to have it removed, depending on which hierarchy model one believes in. The first is to do penance, an action prescribed by the religious leaders as a medicine for the soul, which may or may not result in good actually being done. The second is to pray that God (or whichever of the gods views you favorably) will be merciful and “wash your sin away” instead of bringing upon you the punishment which your unholy existence deserves.

It should be noted that divine moral hierarchy is not the only context in which sin and religion can be viewed. Some perspectives are not so harsh. There are also other ways that people justify prejudice. We have talked about some of them in other contexts elsewhere on this blog, and may do so more in the future.

If used in a fantasy story, a divine moral hierarchy doesn’t have to be bad. Middle Earth, the setting for The Lord of the Rings, exists in a Divine Hierarchy, with Illuvatar the creator on top; then the Valar, which included Sauron’s master; then the Maiar, which include Sauron and the wizards; and then the elves, dwarves, hobbits, and men. It is also present in the lesser known Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, with Maleldil (basically Jesus) on top, the Eldila (angel-like sci-fi beings) below him, the hnau (sentient creatures) below them, and non-sentient animals implicitly below them. In fiction, we can look at the downsides of a divine hierarchy, or anything really, and say “in this world, the bad consequences just don’t happen.”

If a moral system leads to more suffering than would exist without it, then it is not moral. The idea that people have moral worth based on the genetic lottery of birth clearly does more harm than good, and we should train ourselves to avoid slipping into that way of thinking. If we see others who are consciously or unconsciously influenced by a negative morality, then we should kindly and respectfully ask questions that lead them toward recognizing it.

Rationality: The Linchpin of Knowledge

What is Knowledge?

Toolbelt of Knowledge: Practices
Skepticism
Listening
Deconstruction
Rationality
Mindfulness
Steel Manning
Common Sense

Most people think they are more rational than average. Think about that for a minute.

All right, what have you concluded? Perhaps that most people are full of themselves. After all, “average” means by definition that half of all people are above it and half of all people are below it. So it is impossible for most people to be above average.

However, this does not automatically lead to the conclusion that most people are full of themselves. There are two leaps in logic that require more information. The first is that we need to know whether these people think being rational is a good thing. If they don’t, then incorrectly believing themselves to be more rational than average is self-debasing rather than self-exalting. I think it is safe to assume almost everyone believes being more rational is a good thing, so that hole is patched up. The second is about numbers. If being wrong about being more rational than average is what makes someone full of themselves, then only up to half of people can be full of themselves in this way. It might be true that most people are full of themselves; I don’t know. But, it is impossible to conclude it from this premise alone.

What we have just done is an exercise in rationality. We all know what rationality is. It’s figuring things out in a smart way. It’s the process of examining ideas and seeing if and how they fit together. It’s like taking apart a radio or a toaster to see how it works, except with ideas instead of technology. Rationality is our distinguishing feature among life on Earth, the one thing we do better than all other animals, and the rest of the Toolbelt of Knowledge is useless without it.

Rationality is a skill. It must be learned, trained, and kept in shape. We can do this by solving puzzles and mental challenges, contemplating philosophical ideas, listening to public intellectuals like Sam Harris and Bret Weinstein, and playing logic-based video games like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Like all tools, there are good and bad ways to use rationality. One of the best is to update your mental picture of reality so that it fits better with true reality, at least in the ways that are important to you. For instance, a lot of people’s lifestyle decisions depend on what they believe about their ability to affect the environment. If you don’t believe humankind is responsible for the current trend of global warming, you might buy the cheapest electricity, drive a lot when there are alternative methods of transportation, vote for politicians promising to support coal and oil industries, etc. However, if you spend the time to learn about how the global climate works, properly exercising your skill of rationality, your choices might be different.

The most common abuse of rationality is rationalization, which is when we observe ourselves doing or believing something, and retroactively construct an argument for why it was logical.  It might have made sense if this logical reason was our motivation, but most of the time we get it wrong. We humans are more motivated by instinct than logic, and we fear that admitting this will make us seem irrational and lose us reputation points. However, quite the opposite is true. We all know people who are full of themselves, believing they are the most rational person in the world, but who have obvious blind spots on display for all to see. They cannot understand why nobody sees their genius. After all, they can give logical reasons for everything they do. To avoid the trap they have fallen into, we can take two steps. The first is admitting we are driven by instinct. The second is to listen regularly to people with all kinds of views, and recognize that one can be rational and still come to different conclusions from other rational people.

Another downside of rationality is using it so much that you miss out on the things life has to offer. Rationality has a purpose, and that is to figure things out. If you’re having a conversation with friends, or enjoying a good joke or other bit of entertainment, rationality can get in the way. Remember, the most important thing in life is not to find out what is true all the time, but to do things that are meaningful, and sometimes that means putting rationality on hold.

When you properly apply rationality to your fundamental beliefs about yourself and reality, you never know where it will take you. It might challenge beliefs you hold deeply, and you may have to ask yourself whether you are going to follow the logic, or drop it and stick with your beliefs. Neither choice is wrong on principle; there is a proper time for both. When you are ready to follow where reason leads, you will find yourself in some places that are amazing, some that are devastating, and some that seem too weird to be true. However, as someone who has turned his worldview upside-down several times, I can attest that following rationality into the dark and zany places is worth it one hundred percent.