Moral Fundamentalism Run Amok

In the last few days, various human rights organizations have criticized the Wikileaks posting of thousands of secret documents about U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Amnesty International and others point out something that should have been obvious to Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Many documents include names of Afghans who cooperated with or provided information to U.S. Forces. Not surprisingly, they are now being targeted and killed by the Taliban and their allies.

This episode strikes me as a classic example of modern moral fundamentalism. Transparency undoubtedly creates accountability, and a sensible person can see that leaking secrets can sometimes provide an important check on unaccountable uses of power. But the fact that it can be a good thing in no way guarantees that it is always a good thing.

Decades ago, Alistair MacIntyre described the dysfunctional condition of modern moral language. Julian Assange shows how right MacIntyre was, for he has made a god of “disclosure” and “transparency,” without regard for prudence and justice.

This sort of moral fundamentalism is quite common. For example, freedom is by and large a very good thing, but its not the only good thing. The same holds for equality, utility, quality of life, and so forth. Our culture goes off the rails at times, because we settle on one or another aspect of justice (or a means to secure it) as the sine qua non of justice. The hopelessly ideological worship of “democracy” in the rebuilding of Iraq provides an obvious example of how destructive this moral fundamentalism can be.

I’ve become more and more convinced that this tendency is characteristic of modernity, perhaps the defining characteristic. Our age is ideological, not in the sense of having theories or worldview, but in the sense of putting forward magic keys that unlock all the doors, or incantations that once uttered settle all questions. Combat secrecy! That’s Julian Assange’s shibboleth.

I would add that moral fundamentalism characterizes both modern liberal and modern conservatives, with the latter often convinced that free markets will make everything come out right, or that freedom from government coercion is a basic good.

Why is moral fundamentalism so pervasive? Perhaps because it relieves us from the agonies of prudential judgment, the nuanced effort to discern what justice requires, which we often fail to do. It’s so much easier and morally pure to worship an abstraction.