Q&A: Morality and Faith
Morality and Faith
Question
Hi,
During the Intro to Philosophy course, and also in the trilogy, you mention that you find it hard to see validity in morality without belief in an authority external to morality that commands it (God).
I assume that the book of moral laws that God gave is, in your view, the Torah, and that we are required to derive the OWT from the verses and commandments.
The question that came up for me in this context is: when is a verse a “moral statement,” and when is it a “religious commandment with no moral context”?
Are “You shall not murder” and “You shall not leave any of it until morning” both moral commandments?
Thank you,
Answer
No. Morality is rooted within us, and it does not need the Torah for that. The Holy One, blessed be He, rebukes Cain for the murder even before there were commandments about it. The verse tells us, “And you shall do what is upright and good,” without specifying what is upright and good. The assumption is that we understand that on our own (we learn modesty from a cat, etc.). On the contrary, my claim is that Jewish law does not teach morality at all, including the prohibitions against murder, theft, and the like. These are religious prohibitions that add a religious layer on top of the moral layer that already exists prior to them and independently of them. I discussed this at length at the beginning of the third book of the trilogy, and especially in the series of video lectures on Jewish law and morality.