Why Old-Fashioned Morality is the Best Kind
There might be some wisdom in those old-fashioned traditions...
There is a certain bias in today’s world against that which feels “old-fashioned” or “outdated.” Yesterday’s gadgets are quickly rendered obsolete by today’s technological developments, and scientific theories of past years are regularly challenged by the newest breakthrough discoveries. This constant flow of changes has resulted in our modern expectation that newer is better, and older is outdated.
While this attitude might be suitable in the realm of technology and science, it is less straightforward with regards to morality. We all have a general idea of how to act appropriately, yet there is no real consensus as to how we developed these moral codes, or why we have them in the first place. Is there some underlying motive that compels us all to act a certain way? Is there some overarching law of nature that determines what true morality really is?
One of my favorite explanations of morality comes from the likes of David Hume and Adam Smith. In his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith argues that morality evolves naturally over time, but certain aspects of our nature determine the path of that evolution. Thus, while morality and culture develop by means of spontaneous actions and interactions, the end result is not necessarily arbitrary, but is directed by natural constraints.
The evolutionary theory of morality provides a strong argument for the conservative. Traditional values are not merely societal constraints placed on individuals by outdated institutions in some sort of struggle for power. Rather, they are the distilled wisdom of millions of people over thousands of generations.
To illustrate how widespread this view has been throughout history, let us take a look at the ancient Romans. Many people in ancient Rome were skeptical of new philosophies or religions that were not grounded in some ancient tradition. From their perspective, anything worth believing would have already been figured out by the millions of humans who lived before them and distilled into the beliefs of their day. This is why many of them only opened up to the new religion of Christianity after being convinced of its relation to the more ancient religion of Judaism1. This attitude toward tradition stands in stark contrast to the prevalent attitudes of today, where older is outdated and newer is better.
But the radical would challenge this conservative view. After all, if we want to improve society, we must change society, and therefore alter some of our moral assumptions. Civilizations can benefit from this approach, as is evidenced in the modern world where the standard of living increases with ever changing technological advancements.
A liberal view of morality, in the spirit of Hume and Smith, offers something of a compromise to the radical and the conservative view. Morality is the result of an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process, but it is also not an arbitrary process. Therefore, people must be free to let this spontaneous order occur and accept the consequences of their actions, be they good or bad, and they must be tolerated as long as they do no harm to others. This does not necessarily mean that we have a license to break from the traditional view and should do whatever we want. As morality in a society is left to evolve, individuals adopt those morals, traditions, and values that best suit their needs. In the long run, long standing traditions, values, and laws tend to form the basis for morality in a society, mixed with new ideas and habits that change from generation to generation. Sometimes these long standing traditions will be challenged and altered over time, but the change is gradual as people try out new ideas and find out which ones work before they are widely adopted.
While the theory of moral evolution provides a strong argument for conservative values, it is not justification to cling stubbornly to these values without giving any consideration to new ideas. On the other extreme, this theory in support of traditional values provides a solid defense against radicals who wish to overthrow societal norms. It is liberalism (which in our attention-deficit modern world has been donned “classical”, as if it were a genre of music) which balances the two extremes by giving the conservative values their due while also providing the roadmap for improvements to arise naturally. And what is the roadmap? It can most succinctly be summarized thus: let people be free, and do no harm.