What is Morality? Part II - Balance

In my last post, I concluded that morality is related to self-interest. What is good for me is generally good for everyone else. And what is good for someone else is generally good for me. Of course, people will still disagree on what is "good". I'm not even sure that "good" can be well-defined. So morality is subjective. It's a little different for everyone. There are certain things that almost everyone wants - security, material comfort, happiness, freedom, etc. - but even if we were to agree on all those things, the order in which we prioritize them will lead to differences in opinion on what our best course of action should be.

So how can we resolve our differences? In one sense, there are no objective standards by which we can measure who is right and who is wrong. There is no reason why my opinion should hold more weight than anyone else's.

Yet time has a way of deciding these matters for us. Life is a great experiment. People live their lives according to one moral code or another, and some of those codes will lead to more (still subjective) good than others. If people notice this, more of them will latch on and follow that code. So morality evolves much like living things. Every new idea is a mutation that needs to be tested. Most will be discarded quickly, but a few will take hold and propagate into the future and stick around until something better comes along.

This creates a struggle between new ideas and old. It is a necessary struggle. As much as we might like some new idea, as much sense as it might make, it needs to be held to the fire. Therefore progress is often slower than we would like. This does not mean we must accept things as they are. It means we must fight harder for what we believe in, yet not be discouraged by the glacial pace of change.

And since this struggle is unavoidable, I believe that how we fight is just as important as what we are fighting for. Nearly every human being on this earth desires to do good. Those who disagree with us are not bad people. They simply have a different point of view, as detestable as that point of view may be to us. It is important to remember that anger, hate, and disdain directed at your opponents will have little chance of changing their minds on an issue. You must approach them in good faith and with respect, even if those sentiments are not reciprocated.

At least, that's what I think. I have no way to know for sure whether I'm right or wrong. But time will tell.