Morality

5. Morality

Morality is an old-fashioned word, which signifies a code of conduct handed down over the generations. This code of conduct forms the basis of a particular society’s values. Morality is thus rooted in time and tradition. It tends to be a collective concept, analogous perhaps to the conscience (literally ‘knowing together’) of an entire society.

Morality is not about right and wrong, good and evil. Michel, the hero of Andre Gide’s 1902 novel The Immoralist, is not a bad man. Rather he chooses to ignore the social conventions of his time. He has abandoned his historical studies; the only question that has value to him any more is that of man’s psychological development. ‘Is what man has hitherto said all that he could say?’ he asks. ‘Is there nothing in himself he has overlooked? Can he do nothing but repeat himself?’ The narrative continues with further reflections from Michel: ‘And every day there grew stronger in me a confused consciousness of untouched treasures somewhere lying covered up, hidden, smothered by culture and decency and morality.’

The Latin word mos (gen. moris), which is at the core of our word ‘morality’ means the humour or inclination of a person and from that it came to have the primary meaning of ‘custom, usage, wont or manner’. In the plural (mores) it usually signifies a person’s manners or character. Some etymologies posit a derivation from the Greek noun nomos, meaning a custom or convention and, finally, a law. Cicero who coined the adjective moralis in Latin did so as a translation of the Greek adjective ethikos. The related Greek noun ethos has as its primary meaning ‘an accustomed place’ or the ‘haunt’ or ‘abode’ of an animal or human being.

One can see how custom can eventually become both law and right. Enter the immoralist, who can be a creative figure in disrupting lazy ideas of correctness, but only if he resists the temptation to create new norms or customs from his eccentricities. He must remain outside the pale.

We talk of a fable or a fairy tale having a ‘moral’, meaning a miniature lesson on how best to navigate life’s uncertain courses. The territory of the fable and fairy tale, however, is nothing if not amoral. These literary genres are marvellously pragmatic and prepare us for the often bewildering transformations that life imposes on us; they do not seek to teach us what is right and what is wrong.

The outcast is an important figure in these stories for that is the state, usually temporary, which the metamorphosis of the hero or heroine frequently demands. The outcast is a primordial archetype in the human imagination and a necessary figure in any legitimate society. The outcast can never be brought within the mores of his society; he or she is intrinsically eccentric, immoral. The power is in the not-belonging. Those groups in society who attempt to create new moralities from their own status as outcasts would perhaps serve society better if they endured the pain demanded of the outcast—that reluctant and furious teacher of humanity—while waiting patiently for the next metamorphosis to occur.

Let society define itself through morality; the individual must avoid self-definition at all costs. That way, the story of our race avoids petrification and the ultra-moral treasures dimly sensed by Gide’s Michel can be revealed.