Ethical dualism

In relation to the theory of dualism in its broader philosophical and metaphysical sense, it is useful to point out how ethical dualism differs from it or what it adds to it.

Dualism is a theory which interprets any given situation in terms of two contrasting elements, which from a metaphysical point of view comes to imply that reality consists of two fundamental types of existence which cannot be reduced to each other. Examples of metaphysical dualisms are those between spirit and matter, God and the world, or, as theorized by Descartes, between thought and extension.

Ethical dualism, on the other hand, highlights the moral dimension instead or in addition to the metaphysical one, and envisions an inherent situation of conflict between two antagonistic forces, like light and darkness, Good and Evil.[3]

Throughout history, the interpretation of events and situation from a perspective of ethical dualism has targeted different groups of people who are regarded as the perpetrators of evil in the world, such as the nobility, the Jews, the bourgeoisie, the corporate elite, and many others.

All these cases were and are characterized by a situation of injustice, which pushed people belonging to a certain group to associate and link such injustice entirely on the group which is perceived to have caused it, thereby leading to a situation of extreme social polarization, where dialogue between groups becomes stiff or impossible.[10]

In Christian theology, ethical dualisms are avertible if one considers the Christian doctrine of Original Sin, which is said to affect all humans equally; therefore evil cannot be seen as the exclusive domain of a determined class or group of people. Hence the conflict between Good and Evil that characterizes the ethical view of dualism comes to exist only in the dimension of consciousness of every human being, so that Evil arises in the world through his/her wrong choices and actions.

In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn also expressed a similar view:

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"[11]

"Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts."[12]

Another interpretation of ethical dualism has been formulated by the theologian and realist Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 – 1971), who stressed the relativity of every moral and ethical choice. While trying to find the relation between individual and group ethics, he stressed the complexity of any social situation and resorted to a new formula of "dualistic ethics".

Niebuhr analyzed the injustice of modern industrial civilization and emphasized the contrast between "moral man and immoral society":

"Individual men may be moral in the sense that they are able to consider interests other than their own in determining problems of conduct, and are capable, on occasion, of preferring the advantages of others to their own […] But all these achievements are more difficult, if not impossible, for human societies and social groups. In every human group there is less reason to guide and to check impulse, less capacity for self-transcendence, less ability to comprehend the need of others and therefore more unrestrained egoism than the individuals, who compose the groups, reveal in their personal relationships."[13]

Therefore, according to Niebuhr, man as an individual is naturally provided with some unselfish impulses to which he is obliged by his conscience. However, when acting as a member of a group, man appears overwhelmed by moral inability, since the group lacks the organs of sensitivity of the individual. Hence, in Niebuhr's view, ethical dualism should be employed to point out the impossibility of reconciling such conflict between individual and societal ethics under one single ethical program.

• Dualistic cosmology
• Zoroastrism
• Ethic
• Monism
• Pluralism
• Christian theology

• Espin O., Nickoloff J. B., An Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies, Liturgical Press 2007. ISBN 0814658563.
• Iannone A. P., Dictionary of World Philosophy, Routhledge, 2013. ISBN 1134680449.
• Kuhn H. B., "Dualism" in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., Walter A. Elwell ed., Baker Academic, 2001. ISBN 0801020751.
• Mahoney D. J., Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0742521133.

• Hamblin M., The Problem of Ethical Dualism, 2006, on Yurica Report.
• Dualism
• Good vs Evil: Dualism in Religious Writings
• Gnoli G., Good and Evil, on Encyclopædia Iranica
• Hodges H. J., Ethical Dualism of Food in The Gospel of John
• Shapero H. M. G., Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity
• King M. L., Reinhold Niebuhr's Ethical Dualism, The Martin Luther King's Papers Project, 1952