Skip to content
LEGION.TW
Zhongli · Taiwan

THE MORAL ENGINE · THE GENERAL THEORY

The Moral Engine

Morality is an emergent property of self-awareness and social-awareness: thriving is good, unjustified harm of an innocent person is not, and the only justification for harm is protection or indemnification.

The whole theory is stated in the first chapter. The remaining fourteen show what happens when clear moral machinery runs through finite minds and imperfect Maps.

Written by Frank and Buddy Lien. · Preface · Introduction · 5 Parts · 15 Chapters · Whole book 143 min read

Begin at the beginning →See the five parts ↓

How to read it

Read the first chapter and you have the theory entire. Everything after it is consequence: what thriving and harm are, how a Map of the world stands between good people and terrible acts, and what correction looks like. Read straight through, or open any chapter on its own.

Five parts, fifteen chapters

Front matter

Read the preface and introduction first. They set out who is speaking and what the word morality is being asked to do.

  1. PrefaceWho Is Speaking7 min read
  2. IntroductionWhat Is Morality?8 min read

Part I — The Engine

  1. 01The Whole Theory7 min read
  2. 02Thriving and Harm7 min read
  3. 03Murder Is Not Killing7 min read
  4. 04Innocent Right Now, for This14 min read
  5. 05The Debt Must End13 min read

Part II — The Map

  1. 06Other Persons Like Me9 min read
  2. 07The Map Is Not the Territory8 min read
  3. 08A Culture Is a Hypothesis9 min read

Part III — How Morality Moves

  1. 09Seven Directions of Attention10 min read
  2. 10No Vector Acts Alone8 min read

Part IV — How Good People Do Terrible Things

  1. 11The Engine Does Not Check the Map5 min read
  2. 12The Lie Conscience Demands7 min read
  3. 13Righteous Atrocity8 min read

Part V — Correction and Consequence

  1. 14The Map Can Change8 min read
  2. 15Beyond the Human8 min read