Why not? The dimension that we are talking about is the sync—or the disconnect—between morality and legality. If this disconnect is huge, the terms used would be “unjust” and “arbitrary”. Historically, such things happened when a society was conquered by someone with a significantly different culture.
Moral, or rather immoral, can also be used to mean “should be illegal”. [*] Inasmuch as most people obey the law, there is quite a lot of morality going on. Your analysis basically states that there isn’t much Individual, supererogatory moral action going on. That’s true. People aren’t good at putting morality into practice,, which is why morality needs to buttressed by things like legal systems. But there is a lot of unflashy morality going on...trading fairly, refraining from violence and so on. So the conclusion that people are rarely moral doesn’t follow.
[*] This comment should not be taken to mean that in the opinion of the present author, everything which is illegal in every and any society is ipso facto immoral.
Can, but not necessarily should. Societies which move sufficiently far in that direction are called “totalitarian”.
And there is another too far in the other direction, although no one wants to mention that.
Why not? The dimension that we are talking about is the sync—or the disconnect—between morality and legality. If this disconnect is huge, the terms used would be “unjust” and “arbitrary”. Historically, such things happened when a society was conquered by someone with a significantly different culture.
What I was talking about was the larger but less noticeable part of the iceberg of morality.
If you, perhaps, could be more explicit..?
Moral, or rather immoral, can also be used to mean “should be illegal”. [*] Inasmuch as most people obey the law, there is quite a lot of morality going on. Your analysis basically states that there isn’t much Individual, supererogatory moral action going on. That’s true. People aren’t good at putting morality into practice,, which is why morality needs to buttressed by things like legal systems. But there is a lot of unflashy morality going on...trading fairly, refraining from violence and so on. So the conclusion that people are rarely moral doesn’t follow.
[*] This comment should not be taken to mean that in the opinion of the present author, everything which is illegal in every and any society is ipso facto immoral.
Ah, I see.