{"id":1058,"date":"2018-07-05T09:20:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2019-03-24T07:17:11","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T11:17:11","slug":"civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/","title":{"rendered":"Civility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute"},"content":{"rendered":"

My latest piece at The Federalist<\/a> considers the ethics of civility in uncivil times:<\/p>\n

Because civility is not a moral absolute and its form is always adjusting along with culture, it\u2019s requirements are determined primarily by social contract \u2014 the kind of behavior we all implicitly or explicitly agree to when interacting with one another. Historically, some of these contracts have been great blessings while others have been reprehensible, but all are, by nature, contracts.<\/p>\n

The detail that conservatives tend to forget is that when one party violates a contract, the other party is no longer bound by all of its terms. If you sign a contract to buy a car, and the dealer refuses to turn it over you, you aren\u2019t \u201csinking to their level\u201d by refusing to hand over your money. If you contract an employee who never shows up for work, you aren\u2019t \u201crepaying evil for evil\u201d by withholding his wages. The same is true when dealing with people who are deliberately uncivil to civil people \u2014 it fundamentally changes what the rest of society owes them.<\/p>\n

While I’d rather we all be civil with each other, our God-given vocations and love for our neighbor sometimes demands that we be uncivil.\u00a0 You can read the rest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
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My latest piece at The Federalist considers the ethics of civility in uncivil times: Because civility is not a moral absolute and its form is always adjusting along with culture, it\u2019s requirements are determined primarily by social contract \u2014 the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,22,37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCivility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute - The 96th Thesis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Civility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute - The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My latest piece at The Federalist considers the ethics of civility in uncivil times: Because civility is not a moral absolute and its form is always adjusting along with culture, it\u2019s requirements are determined primarily by social contract \u2014 the … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-05T13:20:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-24T11:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"headline\":\"Civility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-05T13:20:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\"},\"wordCount\":220,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"Politics\",\"Tradition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\",\"name\":\"Civility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute - The 96th Thesis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-05T13:20:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/civility-is-a-social-contract-not-a-moral-absolute\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Civility is a Social Contract, not a Moral Absolute\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The 96th Thesis\",\"description\":\"The Devil Never Sleeps; 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