Morality from Responsibility.

I’ve already established that there are two levels of morality which are acceptable in society, moral rightness, which means showing love to your fellow man, and moral neutrality which is simply respecting the rights of others; love is acknowledging, respecting, valuing, and protecting the rights of others; also it is seeing the rationality of all people and not impeding upon it; it is a conscious effort to better the life of another before yourself, and it is living for something other then your own selfish desires.

But say that you were in a situation where there were two people and you were forced to violate the rights of one of them. Say you were faced with a situation where you had to choose between the life of a friend and that of a total stranger, who do you have a moral obligation to save and why?

Although all human life is equal in value, we do have a moral obligation to look after certain people before others. For instance, you must protect your family even if it means violating someone else’s rights, but why is that? Why is your family more valuable then a stranger for instance? The answer is responsibility. You must prioritize the people who you must protect by the amount of responsibility you have to each person. There are several different ways to judge if you have a responsibility to someone.

1) Social and/or personal contract. When you make a contract with someone, either a social contract or a personal contract, you are in fact taking the responsibility to abide by the rules of said contract to the best of your ability. You are taking on a responsibility along with the other person to fulfill said contract as a willing and knowing participant. When you take a public position, either elected to office or appointed by an elected officer, you are in fact taking on a social contract with the people who gave you their power and you have a responsibility to perform your duties to the best of your abilities. When you marry you are signing a social and personal contract with the state and your partner. Contracts which are personal and social bare more weight then just one or the other.

2) Birth. When you are the parent of a child you have brought life into the world, and therefore automatically have an obligation to protect said life. As the creator of life no one but yourself has an obligation to sustain the life that came from you; you brought power into the world and until that life is strong enough to strike out on its own you must defend it. You also have a responsibility to those who gave you life. A child can no more escape the great responsibility of caring for those who gave them life in the first place then a parent can escape the responsibility of caring for them.

3) Time/effort committed. When you commit your time and or effort to another human being you are in fact slowly and by degree taking on a responsibility to that person. The more time and effort you pour into the well being of another person the more responsibility you take in the protection of their natural rights.

4) Time/effort committed to you. Time and effort isn’t just a one way street, when someone devotes time and effort into your own well being, rest assured that they aren’t the only ones who take on responsibility; as long as you accept their help and commitment without objection you yourself will develop a responsibility to them as well.

5) Your natural responsibility to your fellow man. Of course we have a moral responsibility to each man alive, as stated in the first paragraph of this essay. You must always respect the rights of your fellow man and if you wish to be a moral being you must also love your fellow man.