Beyond Left and Right – Article 6: The Role of Ethics and Law in the Recognition of the Structure of Being

The recognition of the eternal Structure of Being carries profound implications for human ethics and law. If Being is necessary and indestructible, then morality and justice cannot be arbitrary constructs shaped by historical contingencies or subjective preferences. Rather, they must be understood as necessary expressions of the eternal order. In this article, we explore how ethical principles and legal systems can be grounded in the Structure of Being, transcending the relativism and nihilism that have characterized modern thought.

The Failure of Modern Ethical Theories

Modern ethical thought has been deeply shaped by the collapse of foundational meta-narratives. With the decline of religious authority and the rise of secularism, ethics has often been reduced to either subjective personal preference (moral relativism) or utilitarian calculus (pragmatic consequentialism). Both approaches fail to provide a stable foundation for ethics, as they rely on contingent factors rather than necessary principles.

Relativism, in denying any objective basis for moral truth, ultimately leads to ethical incoherence, where any action can be justified based on individual or cultural preference. On the other hand, consequentialist frameworks, which define morality based on outcomes, remain trapped in the logic of becoming, assuming that ethical truth emerges from contingent historical processes rather than existing as an eternal necessity.

Ethics as the Manifestation of Necessary Being

If all that is appears in its necessary time and place, then ethics must also be understood as an essential manifestation of Being rather than an artificial social construct. Ethical principles are not human inventions; they are recognitions of the eternal order of reality. Just as the unity and relational nature of Being necessitate the existence of human relationships, the structure of Being necessitates moral truths that transcend subjective or cultural preferences.

Justice, truthfulness, respect, and duty are not values that emerge because they are socially useful but because they reflect the necessary structure of reality. Any ethical system that fails to recognize this necessity will inevitably collapse under the weight of its own contingency. A society that denies the eternal nature of moral truth loses its ability to establish a coherent and just legal order.

The Role of Law in Recognizing Necessary Truth

Law has historically been seen as the formalized expression of a society’s moral convictions. However, with the rise of legal positivism—the idea that law is simply a construct of human will—the connection between law and necessary truth has been severed. This has led to legal systems that shift with the tides of social and political change, reinforcing the instability of the modern world.

A legal system grounded in the recognition of the Structure of Being, however, would not be subject to the whims of cultural trends or ideological shifts. It would recognize that justice is not something that societies invent but something that they must uncover. Laws would not be arbitrary rules imposed by authority but reflections of an eternal order that demands recognition.

In this sense, law must return to its true purpose—not as a mechanism for enforcing contingent social contracts, but as a means of aligning human conduct with the necessary truth of Being. The recognition of unchanging ethical principles would provide a stable framework for justice, one that is not subject to decay or reinterpretation according to historical fluctuations.

Implications for Society

A civilization that acknowledges the eternal nature of ethics and law would no longer be vulnerable to the endless redefinitions of morality that have plagued the modern age. Stability, coherence, and justice would not be sought as pragmatic solutions to social problems but as necessary reflections of the eternal order.

Such a society would reject both the nihilistic abandonment of moral truth and the authoritarian imposition of contingent ideologies. Instead, it would be governed by the recognition that law and ethics are not merely human conventions but manifestations of the necessary and indestructible reality of Being.

Conclusion: Toward a Just Order

The collapse of traditional moral and legal foundations has led to ethical confusion and legal instability. However, the answer is not to construct new provisional systems but to recognize the eternal structure that has always been present. Ethics and law, when properly understood, do not emerge from human will but from the necessity of Being itself. In the next article, we will explore how this understanding can shape political structures that transcend the failures of both the left and the right, forging a new path toward a truly just and stable order.