Are Morals Subversive?

Abstract

HUMAN MORALS can be, and frequently are, subversive-undermining the existing order, producing social change which may not be wholly desirable. Our objective in the present analysis is to focus upon this anomaly -to observe the curious effect which morals have had upon institutions in the past. And our aim, especially, is to become fully conscious of the persistent moral distortion resulting from this social process-a distortion which must be almost indiscernible to moralists of a given age, but which is readily observable from the perspective of moral and institutional history. It is sometimes maintained that morals are rooted in the social order, and must consequently lend support to existing institutions. The only defense for the present. view-namely, that many important moral ideals are not rooted in the existing order, but rather oppose it-is the usefulness of such a principle in interpreting social fact. If the categories here employed, although currently not popular with some analysts, still are useful for generating a frame of reference for interpreting moral history, offering explanations not otherwise possible, then further justification would seem redundant.