To Preface this post this is a paper I wrote for my English class using material from the book The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt chapters 1 and 4.
Religions and
politicians have always taught a well-defined divide between right and wrong. However there exist many grey areas between
right and wrong on several moral issues such as theft, gun control laws, and
abortions. Confusing grey areas among these subjects cause tensions in society
that in extreme cases can lead to violent crimes and the degrading of society.
The abortion clinic bombings that terrified the United States in the early 90’s
are just a few examples of the violence that can be caused by grey areas. Two
causes of grey areas are the Inner Lawyer and The Myth of Pure Evil, subconscious
traits that all people have that heavily influence decision making. If grey
areas were to be declared as good or evil then the tensions they cause could be
put to rest. The best way to develop a clearer divide in society is to focus on
the divide in the individual. To develop
a personal sense of pure black and white requires a great deal of self
discipline to command the Inner Lawyer and then to define pure evil. With the proper tools and dedication,
societies could clear up these “grey areas” and provide clear lines between
right and wrong.
The first step to
making a clearer division between right and wrong is to understand what the
Inner Lawyer is and how to tame it. The
Inner Lawyer is the portion of the mind that defends and justifies the actions,
thoughts, and judgments of an individual.
Haidt uses the example of a brother and sister making love with each
other using two forms of birth-control with the end result that their
relationship became stronger and no one else found out about it. Our initial reaction to a incestuous scenario
is on of disgust and contempt, but when presented with the facts of no-harm
done we begin to reconsider our original stance and start to come to the
conclusion that sometimes or in some cases incest is alright. This is an
example of the Inner Lawyer finding the easy way out in creating a grey area
instead of continuing to work on our initial gut feeling that incest is wrong. We can avoid having our inner lawyer slack
off through the practice of a strict moral code. Strict moral codes exist in both religion and
martial arts which teach people the ability to clear their minds and
consciously rationalize through the practice of prayer or meditation. The practice of meditation and prayer allow a
person to take a step back from situation and spend extra time debating an issue
within oneself. Meditation and prayer
forces the Inner Lawyer to spend more of its effort on finding better reason to
justify your original reaction to a situation.
Eventually the Inner Lawyer can be trained to defend positions of morals
rather than our actual actions, so as to create feelings of guilt and remorse when
we do or think something contradictory to the moral code we have chosen. Once the
Inner Lawyer has been trained by a moral code then it is capable of helping us create
black and white instead of creating grey areas.
People must also understand
that The Myth of Pure Evil, that says there is no such thing as pure evil is false. Though there are not people who are wholly
evil there are actions that all people instinctively view as evil such as rape,
child molestation, and murder. Knowing that some acts that are inherently wrong,
and that people always have the opportunity to choose not to commit a crime,
then we also know those who willingly make the choice to commit these acts have
chosen to be evil, and as such should receive swift judgment. As we develop stronger stands against
criminals then those who commit crimes will reevaluate their survival instincts
and think twice before committing an act of violence that has been deemed as
evil in their society. An example of
this survival instinct being reevaluated can be seen in the study More Guns Less Crime conducted by John Lott by examining how the introduction
of concealed firearm permits into societies that previously banned them or made
them difficult to acquire. In all cases
the level of violent crime dropped dramatically and it was decided that the reason
was that criminals were more aware that those they would be attacking were more
likely to be armed and better capable of defending themselves. As societies take firmer stands on what
actions of evil are purely evil and take steps to make quick black and white
judgments they will be benefited by falling crime rates.
It
would take a united society to make these changes that would be necessary for
the defining of good and evil, but with so many individual senses of morals
within one society it is hard to achieve unification; however through
celebrated diversity you can create a unified governing body. This is clearly shown in the United States
Supreme Court where the opposing opinions are debated and then put before a
judicial body who will declare which side is correct, Supreme Court verdicts
are then used as the line that divides white and black. If smaller units of society were to create
similar governing bodies to debate and then to make declarations on what is
good and evil the lines between white and black will become clearer as all
sides of morality come to agreements on where to make stands. Along with judicial systems of government
diversity can provide strength in society with the strength of good morals that
the foundations of good culture and upbringing instill in respective members of
society. For example many races have a
culture of respect and strong families.
If more people exercised these traits the amount of abuse within
families and against children and the elderly would decrease. The main requirement to receive these
benefits from clear lines between good and evil is to accept diversity as a
strength and not a dividing factor, to do this the common goal of taming the
Inner Lawyer and understanding Pure Evil must continue to be the focus of all
members of society.
In
conclusion the division between good and evil can be clarified and used to
benefit society in several ways. The First was is in understanding and taming
the Inner Lawyer to learn how to make instinctual judgments between right and
wrong. Next is by learning how the Myth
of Pure Evil allows us to declare actions as evil and to deem those who
willingly choose to commit those actions as evil, and to punish them
accordingly. And finally in applying the
understanding of both the Inner Lawyer and the Myth of Pure Evil into society
to create a heavily judicial system of government to create a unified line
between good and evil. If these steps
were to be taken society would be benefited by lower crime rates as well and
stronger morals and a decrease in child and elderly abuse, through taming the
Inner Lawyer and defining pure evil.
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