Morality is a tool for Inter-group Conflict

Last updated on: October 28, 2012 at 11:34 pm by Desh Kapoor

Morality is a tool for Inter-group Conflict 2012-10-28T23:34:44-05:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Anyone who has read my blogs would know that I am no fan of the concept of Morality. It is contextual and above all a pretense. That is why I found the review of the book Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion very interesting

Here is a very insightful paragraph that was mentioned in the review which makes a lot of sense.

Morality binds and blinds. This is not just something that happens to people on the
other side. We all get sucked into tribal moral communities. We circle around
sacred values and then share post hoc arguments about why we are so right and they
are so wrong. We think the other side is blind to truth, reason, science, and common
sense, but in fact everyone goes blind when talking about their sacred objects. If
you want to understand another group, follow the sacredness. (pp. 311-312)

Morality, Haidt contends, has been used a the cohesive force to bring together a community via rituals and beliefs built on a Moral foundation peculiar to a group. In fact, Morality is a tool used in Inter-group conflict. If one group needs to insulate against the other, the most potent way is to create a different set of morality principles and then insist adherence.

Haidt, it seems, also likes works of Mercier and Sperber, who argue that human reasoning has not developed to help people get to the truth, but as arbitrary contexts which can be used to win arguments.

These are interesting observations.

Morality is always backed by a certain set of reasoning in every culture. If the reasoning in any culture has been developed to create an artificial boundary around that group, then it is not only a way to perpetuate and intensify group conflict, but also a way to help this group win argument in that conflict, if it comes to that. But even in cases of violent and disruptive conflict, the moral narrative comes in handy to push the group members towards giving their lives. The example of Suicide Bombers is a very potent one here.

Interesting thing is that Morality is always enforced using the concept of “God”. The concept of a higher being having blessed the common and collective set of principles is a better way to sell them without much opposition despite faulty and inadequate reasoning.

But, if one was to take this further – one would see that not only does Morality comes from the need for Survival within a group – where one person who wants to propagate his power enlists others to his Moral constructs and thus create a large enough group for his survival and that of his own “reasoning”; but its presence in a group necessarily leads to its Exclusive nature.

Saying it in another way, if a group has an explicit Moral Narrative and construct, its conflict with any other group is assured.

In such a situation, where there are different Moral narratives in one society or country, how does diversity work? For, it is imperative for a diverse culture to value Inclusivity. Without that, Diversity is a short lived virtue. But if there are one (yes, even one is enough) or more of Morally oriented groups, then the destruction of Diversity is assured!

So is the answer for long term survival of Diversity in a society the stripping apart of all Moral constructs within the individual groups? Can any group even live without ideas seeped in Morality?

From my understanding of Indian society, I aver that Indian society before the advent of the Abrahamic religions, was one where Morality wasn’t the central pillar or even glue for the society. That is why a large amount of experimentation in Spirituality and search for the larger purpose was done without much conflict. Even when the principles governing the group were enunciated, they were not explicitly “God Given”. For example, different groups like Suryavanshis would have a certain set of principles, but they were given or enunciated by the elders of that group and not Divine principles.

In the world of God and religiosity, it was understood that there is no set format or way. It was ok to bring your own God to the party and have fun with others.

The question of diversity and its survival when the Morally predominant Abrahamic groups came to India and resided next to erstwhile groups which didn’t have God-certified Morality as central, then the conflicts have become terrible. As long as this traditional group gave way, the conflict was contained. But encroachment of the areas and the society of the Abrahamic groups by the non-Abrahamic groups has been met with severe bloodshed and annihilation.

The Moral constructs have often been used as a cover up for any conscience when killing the other and annihilating the others.

I personally am convinced that Morality breeds Exclusivity and Exclusivity (however contained by Economic interests for certain time) can never be a recipe for Diversity.

Previous Post

October 28, 2012

Bitter Seeds: Huge Human Tragedy from Genetically Modified Seeds from Monsanto (Watch Full Movie Video)

Next Post

October 29, 2012 India is 132nd out of 185 in Ease of Doing business

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God command Job to do after his friends were rebuked?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Go to Uz Pray for his friends Fast for 40 days Offer more sacrifices