Morality is society’s self-defence

THE EDITOR, Madam:

AS WE discuss the issue of moral decline i n Jamaican society, we need to remind ourselves that morality is society’s chief form of self-defence. This is so because morality is the cement that binds a society together. It does so by stressing the effects that our actions have on others rather than those that are chiefly selfregarding. Without morality the centre cannot hold.

The moral crisis we are facing here is exemplified in the horrendous murder rate that springs from not valuing the lives of others; the appalling rate of praedial larceny that springs from not valuing the property of others and all the forms of well-being that flow from the ownership of such property; and the widespread coarseness and crassness of social living are fed by failure to consider the interests of others. Most people can make up their own list of similar examples here.

But we do not have to be altruistic self-sacrificing saints to recognise that the cultivation of the desire not to harm others will in the long run be in our own self-interest. This can be logically demonstrated to anyone who takes the trouble to think about it. Widespread disregard for the well-being of others will eventually harm everyone and lead to social decay.

I have not yet had an opportunity to read the proposals of the Patterson Report on Jamaican education. But it is my belief that improving the logistics of educational delivery in the country, a most laudable objective, will not be sufficient if education is to be an important agent of social change. The philosophy and content of the educational enterprise are also of crucial importance. And regarding the country’s moral challenges, I think one important element must be the encouragement of moral reasoning, a branch of practical reasoning, in the schools. I believe that to a large extent, if not entirely, morality is also a rational enterprise, and necessary for social self-defence.

EARL MCKENZIE, PhD