Moral Inversion
Moral Inversion in Modernity
by Keith Sellers
Hungarian-British polymath Michael Polanyi observed the spiritual, moral, and social devastation of Europe during the era of the two world wars. In his book The Logic of Liberty, Polanyi explored the debilitating effects of both Nazi and Communist totalitarianism on the progress of scientific inquiry. As a Nobel prize winning chemist, he was deeply concerned when authoritarian movements hindered the progress of science. He observed that the morally bankrupt nihilists of his day evolved through a process that he called “moral inversion.”[1] After jettisoning Judeo-Christian values, European society embraced a Nietzschean individualism that formed a spiritual vacuum in the hearts of younger generations. This spiritual emptiness led many people toward dangerous, collective movements. When the Nazi movement spread throughout Germany, Polanyi left his teaching position at Kaiser Wilhelm University and fled the country because he was of Jewish origin. His relatives and European contemporaries experienced the rise of oppressive Stalinist and Nazi movements. Both movements were similar in their promotion of social uniformity, totalitarianism, and violence. The Enlightenment’s individualism and rationalism fostered a secularized Christian faith, which devolved into an apolitical nihilism that ridiculed the hypocrisy and failings of religion. Since humans are social and spiritual creatures the apolitical nihilists embraced a political nihilism to work out their lack of beliefs and commitments. Polanyi noted that nihilistic attitudes in politics brought bloody disruptions to all spheres of European society and other regions of the globe via the radical ideals proposed by fascism and communism.[2]
The proponents of Marxist materialism in effect created a quasi-religion through which they embraced a pharisaical hubris coupled with an eschatological hope for a future economic utopia. Polanyi observed a profound internal conflict in the modern era,
Modern thought is a mixture of Christian beliefs and Greek doubts. Christian beliefs and Greek doubts are logically incompatible and the conflict between the two has kept Western thought alive and creative beyond precedent. But this mixture is an unstable foundation. Modern totalitarianism is a consummation of the conflict between religion and scepticism.[3]
Our skeptical spirit prevailed, but we still struggle to root out our moral sensitivity and need for some kind of spirituality. Polanyi realized that the totalitarian movements of his day combined both “moral passions” and “materialistic purposes."[4] Christian spirituality and its undergirding hope for a better world with justice for all was rejected and turned upside down for a material utopia. Passion for God and humanity was replaced by a violent pursuit of materialism on a global level.
The moral inversion of fascism and communism transformed sophisticated European hedonists into hellbent manufacturers of human destruction. Those who sought to create a new world order, a superior race, or an economically just utopia actually made our planet an experiment in creating record-breaking numbers of human casualties in the previous two world wars. Now we hope and pray that we never again experience such a catastrophic global conflict, especially with even more advanced nuclear weapons available all over the planet. We are quite capable of killing even more people faster than the two world wars combined. With our advanced technology we can create dystopian totalitarian societies on a global scale.
The Western experience of moral inversion is not exclusive to the West, but it is rooted in ancient history. It is rooted in Eden. The Book of Genesis describes humanity's first great moral inversions that have influenced every human, tribe, and civilization to this day. Old Testament theologian Walter Kaiser observes three major crises in the Bible's very first book-- the fall, the flood, and the failed Tower of Babel.[5] These were the first three moral inversions that have plagued humanity for many millennia. If we fail to address these inversions in our time we are doomed to further escalate the state of crisis for all of humanity.
ENDNOTES
[1] Michael Polanyi, The Logic of Liberty (Indianapolis, Liberty Fund, Inc, 1998), 131.
[2] Polanyi, 131-33.
[3] Polanyi, 135.
[4] Polanyi, 135.
[5] Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 16.