The Cult of Moral Grayness

(Originally written July 18, 2006 in Book 3)

The Cult of Moral Grayness
Ayn Rand

The moral bankruptcy of today's culture is personified in the statement: "There are no black and whites, there are only grays". This proclamation of only grays existing extends to persons, actions, principles and morality in general.

The nation of no black and white, only gray is full of contradictions. "Foremost among them is the fallacy of the stolen concept. IF there is no black and white, the can be no gray - since gray is the mixture of the two" (Rand, 75).

Ha! That is funny!

Before something can be called gray, black and white have to be determined.

Man must ascertain what is good and what is evil. After doing so, there is no justification for choosing to act on a combination of the two.

If a moral code is impossible to practice then it is called black. Altruism falls under this category.

If a man fails to determine what is good in a difficult scenario or makes an honest mistake he is morally 'white'.

"Errors of knowledge are not breaches of morality; no proper moral code can demand infallibility or omniscience" (Rand, 76).

Linehan - Wrong. Infallibility and omniscience are required because the moral person must be perfect. But, since man is neither infallible nor omniscient it is impossible for him to be perfect, rendering him incapable of being moral. Luckily, there is the gift of grace and forgiveness in God and even in man.

Evasion of knowledge is morally black, not gray.

Morality only pertains to his choices or free-will.

Linehan - incorrect. Man's born immoral and evil. If there are no innate ideas then isn't every one morally grey? Because if there is no absolute white or absolute black known at birth (or at least present at birth) doesn't that mean that man necessarily is born neutral or gray.

Moral grayness is a revolt against moral values and the absolutism of reality.