Save Our Imperfect Moral Heroes

Moral heroes are people who faced tough moral dilemmas and made inspiring choices, which become the basis of their legends. On many other occasions, however, they were just like any regular schmoe of their times, which makes them seem monstrous by modern standards. Sometimes the great moral leaders of the past did the right thing, sometimes they tried and failed, sometimes they didn’t even try. We need to remember them for their best moments and in spite of their worst moments.

No one acquires all their moral principles through diligent reasoning and introspection. We were each thrown into our moral system at birth, just as our ancestors were thrown into theirs. Some people have the ability and temperament to criticize and fine tune the moral system they inherited, but no one builds their moral system completely from scratch. More importantly, the maxims of these inherited moral systems often conflict with each other, and we often disagree with our ancestors about which maxim should take priority in a particular situation. Their disagreement often seems delusional to us, but that is primarily because the morally repellent alternatives have disappeared, thanks in part to the efforts of some of these ancestors.

We all agree that it is wrong to lie, and also wrong to tell the Nazis about the Jews hiding in your cellar. We also agree that the proper choice is to lie to the Nazis. But what about the choice between 1) failing to fully provide for your family, and 2) complicitly cooperating with an institution that everyone you know says…