Natural Moral Institutions in Society

Obeying Rules

We have considered ethical choice, but given little attention to the way that ethical rules permeate society and form ethical authorities.  «Making a choice» and «observing» (or not) ethical rules and ethical authorities are two entirely different aspects of the human use of values (or of the way that values use humans).

Society contains 7 Natural Moral Institutions. Their function is to sustain society by ensuring that its members act to ensure its survival and coherence.

These institutions are termed «natural» because they spontaneously emerge in any community. Within Experience-PH4, they allow us to exist as social beings (PH’4-L6), providing and sustaining both a personal identity and a communal identity.

Natural Moral Institutions derive from…Closed the various approaches to sustaining personal (i.e. psychological) existence or identity i.e. arguably they do not belong primarily to Purpose-PH6 but to Experience-PH4 as proposed in the diagram. 

ClosedSee the Full Framework Picture

The 7 Institutions

The 7 institutions are listed below. Their nature and distinctiveness can be grasped using the following simple schema:

  • Need that is met;
  • Characteristic concerns;
  • Identity focus for those concerns.

Work out the details for each and then click to check the propositions:

ClosedL"I: Formal Etiquette

ClosedL"II: Popular Morality

ClosedL"III: Communal Ideals

ClosedL"IV: Social Structure

ClosedL"V: Ethical Teachings

ClosedL"VI: Governance System

ClosedL"VII: Organized Religion

► More about the natural moral institutions.

The Government [sPH6-G62] as a practical entity has a place in the framework for realizing values in society where it is responsible for delivering the values, especially ultimate values-PH6L7, of The Citizenry [sPH6-G61].

Governance as an ethical entity has a different place within taxonomy in the framework for natural moral institutions (i.e. it is the provisional formal-name for: PH"4-L6).

This is not surprising. Governing and government are products of human nature and intrinsic to human endeavour due to their necessity for group control. Any government must be wholly embedded within the ethical structures and morality of its society. That is why, despite government's potential for good, it has caused an immense amount of harm through the millennia.

Any government and its proposed solutions operate within its society's moral context —which is the present focus (CL6).

Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 12 June 2014.