Universalism

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Universalism is the proposition that there exist single objective standards, independent of culture, by which moral and epistemological questions are each correctly judged. Broad universalism includes any concept or doctrine that applies to the totality of the relevant set, such as human beings. Some religions have doctrines that are believed to apply to all humanity.

Moral universalism posits a unique ethic that applies to all human beings and is comprehensive for all human action, including action that affects nonhumans. Because the universal ethic is independent of culture, it cannot derive from the beliefs of any culture or any generalization from practices and actions. A universal moral standard can be derived only from premises that apply to all human beings, such as human nature. Moral universalism is implied in the concept of human rights and such documents as the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The concept of a universal ethic or “natural moral law” in European philosophy was developed by the ancient Greek Platonists and Stoics. German philosopher Immanuel Kant based his moral philosophy on the concept that rules can be universalized. Utilitarian moral philosophy, based on what is best for society, is also intended to apply universally. Universalism is also present in the philosophy of natural rights and associated with natural moral law as a standard for judging legislation.

Philosopher John Locke described natural moral law in his work on political philosophy, Two Treatises of Government ([1690] 1947). In the Second Treatise, Locke states as his premise for the “law of nature,” or natural law, that human beings are all equal and independent.

Human beings are biologically independent, for feeling and thinking and choosing take place individually. Equality means that the capacity for reason and choice is common to the human species and that there is no biological basis for one set of humans to be regarded as superior to others. Nihilists, relativists, and supremacists deny the equality premise, while those with a holistic philosophy dispute the independence premise.

Locke’s “law of nature” prescribes that it is morally evil to harm others in their lives, health, liberty, or possessions. The existence of such a universal ethic can be claimed by setting criteria for the ethic and then arguing that if a derived ethic fits the criteria, then it exists, just as we can set criteria for the existence of airplanes, and then if a machine fits the criteria, we must conclude that airplanes exist. The criteria could be the following four propositions:

1. The ethic is universal to all humanity.
2. The ethic is comprehensive, applying to all human action.
3. The ethic is logically consistent.
4. The ethic is not arbitrary, not merely based on the whims or beliefs of one or more persons.

Another strand of natural moral law is based on the ethical philosophy of Aristotle, which has been revised by libertarian scholars such as Murray Rothbard and by Objectivist philosophers starting with Ayn Rand. They posit some natural end inherent in human nature such that actions that are inconsistent with this end are immoral. Other philosophers, such as Jürgen Habermas, base universalist concepts on communicative action or a dialectical process, through which a consensus can be achieved by dialogue.

Epistemological universalism posits the existence of objective knowledge that human beings are able to learn. Objectivists and realists in epistemology claim that human beings have the cognitive ability to observe and explain the universe as it actually is rather than merely forming subjective interpretive beliefs. In contrast, hermeneutics, relativists, and particularists such as Michel Foucault claim that human minds have bounded cognition, not just making errors but necessarily interpreting observations using prior beliefs, making absolute objectivity impossible. Some philosophers seek a middle ground between relativism and objectivism, such as the belief that human beings can achieve knowledge but that it is not certain or comprehensive. Universalists can argue that the proposition that there are no universals is itself either universal or not; if so, the proposition is self-contradictory, and if not, then it has no general impact.

Universalists have explained the human capacity to obtain objective knowledge from evolution, which selected for beings whose survival depends on beliefs consistent with their environmental reality. Knowledge can come from a priori insights such as the concept of cause and effect, and from the capacity to reason, using logic and evidence from observation. Most scientists evidently believe in epistemological universalism, in being able to discover theories that explain reality.

Economics, for example, presumes premises that apply universally to all humanity. Economic axioms include diminishing marginal utility, economizing to maximize benefits or minimize costs, and the physical constraint of scarce resources. If economics as a social science is founded on these premises, then it must be possible to know these premises and their implications, and such knowledge must consist of shared beliefs that can be learned. Moral universalism is connected to epistemological universalism in that if human beings can know science, there is no reason to exclude moral philosophy from what can be objectively known.

Subjectivism and objectivism are not necessarily opposites in moral philosophy. In economics, we can posit that the values placed on goods are purely subjective, based on individual interests. Yet these values result in bids and offers in a market, which create objective prices and, together with other premises such as scarcity, form the basis of an objective theory of prices. Likewise in ethics, we can accept that each person has subjective values about human action and situations but that these values form the basis of an objective ethic if we also have premises such as that all human beings have an equal moral worth or that their values have an equal moral standing.

SEE ALSO Aristotle; Cosmopolitanism; Epistemology; Ethics; Habermas, Jürgen; Hermeneutics; Libertarianism; Locke, John; Morality; Natural Rights; Objectivism; Philosophy; Realism; Religion; Utilitarianism

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Foldvary, Fred. 1980. The Soul of Liberty: The Universal Ethic of Freedom and Human Rights. San Francisco: The Gutenberg Press.

Locke, John. [1690] 1947. Two Treatises of Government. Ed. Thomas I. Cook. New York: Hafner Press.

Nozick, Robert. 2001. Invariances: The Structure of the Objective World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Peikoff, Leonard. 1991. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Dutton.

Popper, Karl R. 1972. Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rorty, Richard. 1991. Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Fred Foldvary

Universalism, religious belief in universal salvation or the eternal progress of all souls. Since its followers consider that truth and righteousness are the controlling powers of the universe, good inevitably triumphs over evil and all mankind is brought into harmony with God. This belief has existed in one form or another since the earliest days of the Christian church, but as an organized Protestant denomination it is primarily centered in the U.S., where it owes its origin to John Murray, an English minister who came to this country in 1770. The Church had 73,194 members in 1954, but in 1961 it gave up independent identity by merging with the Unitarians, their combined membership (1981) being some 170,000 members. Early forerunners of Universalism include Samuel Gorton, the younger Henry Vane, Charles Chauncey, and Jonathan Mayhew, and later important members included Adin Ballou and Hosea Ballou.

Universalism

Judaism

The claim, in contrast to particularism, that a religion is true for all humanity. Judaism is universalistic in that it recognizes the absolute sovereignty of God and that messianic redemption is for all humankind. It is particularist in that it perpetuates the survival of the Jewish people as a separate entity.

Christianity

The doctrine that all beings will in the end be saved. It starts from the conviction that a loving God cannot impose eternal punishment (in hell), and that eternal bliss cannot be complete while any are excluded. A separate movement/denomination had begun in the 18th cent. (especially in N. America), receiving impetus from Hosea Ballou, Treatise of the Atonement (1805). It merged in 1961 with the Unitarians, to become the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Universalism.
1. The teaching of some of the later Hebrew prophets that God's purpose covered not only the Jewish race but at least some people of other nations.

2. Another name for Apocatastasis (q.v.).