In the first session we saw how Smith sees morality as that uniquely human power that enables co-operation on vast scales and makes the division of labour, culture, religion, and civilization possible. His notion of morality must therefore permeate everything human. In the second session we looked at the contents of morality as belief. Morality is a second order fact. Second order refers to human actions, feelings, emotions, sentiments, beliefs about actions, feelings, emotions, sentiments, beliefs. For example if you believe that you are hungry – that is first order; if you believe you should not eat despite being hungry for diet reasons then that is second order morality. Regarding beliefs, your opinion on a mater is your first order belief; an opinion on your opinion is a second order belief. Pro-life and pro-choice opinions are first order beliefs. Smith’s claim that within each camp’s plausibility structure they both have perfectly reasonable and consistent beliefs is a second order belief. The biggest and farthest-reaching narratives are second order narratives that build up and give legitimacy to all other consistent narratives within a particular belief community. As such, the living narratives in the world today are the broadest expressions of morality.
A narrative “is a form of communication that arranges human actions and events into organized wholes in a way that bestows meaning on the actions and events by specifying their interactive or cause-and-effect relation to the whole…Narratives seek to convey the significance and meaning of events by situating their interaction with or influence on other events and actions in a single, interrelated account. Narratives thus, always have a point, are always about the explanation and meaning of events and actions in human life”. The gospels are quintessential narratives. Most modern narratives are secular gospel. Like in the gospel stories “All narratives include a handful of essential elements. First narratives have a set of character or actors who are the subjects and objects of action. Second, narratives involve plots with typically structured sequences of beginning, middle, and end”. The beginning sets the characters and the stage, the middle set the problem or conflict, the end has the successful resolution or goal for the characters. “Third, narratives convey significant points. They are designed to draw the audience to an explanation, a revelation, and understanding, or an insight about life and the world….What matters is the more significant story running through, over, and under ‘the facts,’ the story that itself constitutes what is a fact, what it is that mattes.”
The first narrative and the most important, dominant, far reaching, and deep narrative in the west can be summed up as: in the past people’s lives were hard because they were ignorant of science, industry, rationality and technology. Fortunately for all humanity, some fought hard and suffered greatly to bring us all these good things. We must continue their work and not let the darkness of ignorance return.
Second the American Experiment narrative: the old world was bad, courageous people built a new better world in the Americas and we must preserve it against those who would destroy it.
The third counters the second and is called the Militant Islamic Resurgence narrative: Islam was great until centuries of crusading infidels ruined us. Now we are growing and learning to reclaim Islam’s former glory.
The fourth is the Christian metanarrative: God created us to be happy, but we sinned so he sent his son to redeem us so we can regain the possibility of eternal happiness.
The fifth is the Capitalist Prosperity narrative: before the advent of capitalism the world was poor, but the hard work of some creative geniuses made everyone better off. And yet people want to kill this great benefit against which we must always stand on guard.
The sixth is the Progressive socialism narrative: people lived in freedom before capitalism which has destroyed meaningful relationships and created exploitative ones. We must take back our humanity by destroying all exploitation.
The seventh is the Expressive Romantic narrative: people lived in harmony with nature and themselves until civilization repressed us. We must regain our spontaneity and authenticity.
The eighth is the Scientific Enlightenment narrative: we lived in a dark world based on faith but through struggle we have overcome that backward view and now science serves as a great benefactor to humanity which we must preserve against those who would like to return to the dark ages.
For context Smith gives us a long dead narrative but likely the longest thriving narrative in human history lasting three to five thousand years it died around 332 BC with the Macedonian conquest of Egypt: out of an eternally threatening chaos the gods gave humanity a seed to reach immortality rather than fall into chaotic death. The purpose of humanity is to nourish that divine seed to be reunited with the divine.
A contemporary non-western narrative Smith names, Destined Unity with Brahman narrative: Brahman creates and destroys the universe over and over again in endless cycles. Brahman is all that is constant. We can unite with Brahman and stop the senseless cycle if we purify ourselves and follow the spiritual paths to God.
Narrative can clash or they can support each other. “The American experiment narrative…has always easily been integrated into the larger Christian metanarrative. With only a few shifts in imagery, the Old World is Egypt; the Atlantic is the Jordan River; America is a promised land; Americans are God’s chosen people, a new Israel; George Washington is America’s Moses; political and economic (and, for sum moral) liberty is salvation; U.S. foreign policy fulfills our evangelical mission, and so on.”
Narratives work on many levels from the personal to the civilizational level. One, the Exodus story, is frequently used by movement of liberation and revolution around the world as well as in personal stories of overcoming obstacles such as job loss, trauma, poverty, oppression etc. Narratives big and small define our identity and consequently are sacred to us. Popular stories achieve popularity by touching on, exemplifying, and supporting what we value as sacred.
To demonstrate the multi-level nature of narratives Smith gives two narratives of American sociology. Sociology, of course, considers itself to be a science: objective, fact based, unbiased. However the first sociology narrative Smith labels, the Liberal Progress narrative: in the past human societies were unjust, unhealthy and oppressive but we succeed in establishing modern, liberal, democratic, capitalist, welfare societies and we can do better still. In contrast sociology also has a narrative called the Ubiquitous Egoism that claims: selfishness was once viewed as a moral flaw needing to be stamped out. But honest thinkers have realized that altruism is at root a selfish endeavour. We must understand and take this truth seriously if we are to progress. “Insofar as the Enlightenment itself was in good measure a renarration of Christianity in secular terms, the two narratives animating contemporary American sociology reflect the optimistic and pessimistic themes that Christianity’s theological anthropology united but the Enlightenment split apart.”
A third sociological narrative, the Community Lost narrative seems to have left academia and has gained general popularity recently. It is likely Trump’s favorite: we have lost something good. I know how we can get it back. Follow me, I know what to do. “[T]he Community Lost narrative is a nostalgic tragedy evoking melancholy and dissent for those who have told and lived it. It renarrates in secular terms…the Jewish and Christian story of paradise lost, of original sin, of the serpent in the garden.”
“[T]he challenge for moral believing animals on this earth is finally not how to work out which among ours is the one true story but rather and more immediately figuring out how to talk and live together, given the fact of our different stories. This is the challenge of civil pluralism.