Lincoln-Douglas Debate

A Value Debator's Index to The Foundations of Morality by Henry Hazlitt
by David Beers

Some debaters have taken refuge in brief, simplified analyses of foundational texts, written from a debate perspective. These are sometimes helpful, but not always authoritative, and they tend to focus on a few philosophies and philosophers who are in the LD "canon." No single book could probably ever bridge this gap, but one that comes close is Foundations of Morality by Henry Hazlitt.

From this endorsement you might suppose that Foundations of Morality is a survey of ethical philosophies. To the extent that the author addresses a great many strands of ethical theory and handles each with due respect for its strengths, it verges on being a survey. But Hazlitt also levels powerful critiques at prevalent theories and takes some definite stands. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is that it rehabilitates and extends one of the theories least understood by debaters--utilitarianism--and shows it to possess surprising power. In Hazlitt's hand utilitarianism sheds its tired stereotypes (such as "greatest good for the greatest number") and emerges as a robust approach for exploring questions of duty, rights, justice and liberty, among others.

To some extent this is accomplished by returning to utilitarianism's neglected roots in the moral philosophy of David Hume rather than the work of later proponents such as John Stuart Mill. Hume's insistence that ethics be based on the utility of general principles rather than particular actions avoids the criticism often leveled against utilitarians that they excuse violations of individual rights when the good of the majority is at stake. Hazlitt demonstrates that Hume's "rule utilitarian" approach (a modern term, not Hume's) encompasses the best features of such diverse ethical systems as those of Jeremy Bentham, who he ably defends, and Immanuel Kant, whose "Categorical Imperative" he shows to be far less a conclusion of "pure reason" than Kant would allow.

Hazlitt's Foundations has another significant advantage over most other treatises on ethical first principles: his background as an economist enables him to dispel many common economic myths that have unwittingly found their way into ethical discourse. From economics Hazlitt borrows the crucial insight that nearly all human endeavors are advanced through cooperation, both conscious and unwitting. Those ethical and legal norms that expand the range of cooperation and the ability of people to form correct expectations about how others will behave tend to make everyone more successful in their diverse pursuits. ìThrough social cooperation we promote all the values, direct and indirect, material and spiritual, cultural and aesthetic, of modern civilization.î

For Hazlitt the foundations of morality lie not in abstract reasoning, divine revelation, or utilitarian calculus, but in the fact that the rules that exist are ones which almost anyone is forced to agree benefits him most of the time. ìThere is no irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the individual and those of society. If there were, society could not exist.î To emphasis the centrality of social cooperation in ethics he favors the names ìcooperatismî or ìmutualismî over the cumbersome term ìutilitarianismî as names for his approach.

Foundations of Morality belongs on every LDer's bookshelf, but if you have an internet connection you can save that space on your bookshelf for the next in the Harry Potter series, because the complete text of Foundations of Morality is now online.

10/28/2007 - unfortunately, the online version is no longer available