Q&A: Regarding Morality “Embedded in a Person”
Regarding Morality “Embedded in a Person”
Question
The Rabbi has mentioned several times that there is a morality embedded within us, and that we do not learn morality from the Torah at all. In other words, a fairly clear separation.
Does the Rabbi think that the morality common today in the reasonable world (such as the prohibition against stealing and murdering) is proof that this really is innate? It seems to me very plausible that this is a matter of education. Just as there are cannibal tribes. Or when a child hits, we correct him and scold him for it. I think these are a priori intuitions on this subject, but maybe I am mistaken.
Answer
There are many discussions on the site about moral relativism, whether it is education, whether it is embedded in us (which from my perspective is like education), or whether it is choice. In my view, it is choice. Of course, the understanding of what is moral is both imprinted within us and perceived by the “eyes of the intellect.” But the decision to act accordingly is ours.
Discussion on Answer
It can always be that we are mistaken. So what? Is there no possibility of error in Jewish law? Is there any field in the universe in which we do not use our intellect and therefore cannot make mistakes? What does all this have to do with my theses?
I looked through the questions on the site but did not find an unequivocal conclusion. In the end, I am trying to ask whether it could be, and perhaps is even likely, that we are not getting at the morality that the Holy One, blessed be He, intended—at least in certain parts. As stated, in your view there is a clear separation between morality and religious commandments (therefore there are conflicts that need to be resolved). But since our way of knowing what morality God intended is simply a direct product of education and independent inquiry as we mature, then we really have no way of knowing whether we got everything right. Especially since morality cannot be learned from the Torah—so where does it come from? The “eyes of the intellect” seems to me a very subjective term. Your belief in tradition and in the religious commandments you accept on the basis of considerations of plausibility in the end (it is not plausible that a tradition on such a broad front was invented by one person, etc.), whereas morality cannot be accepted on the basis of considerations of plausibility.