The (usually unstated) foundational axioms of Jewish ethics ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

The (usually unstated) foundational axioms of Jewish ethics

We have described a three-tier framework for Jewish ethics:

The Values Tier (life, dignity, truth, justice, etc.)
The Adjudication Tier (weighing and balancing those values in real-world cases)
The Meta/Interpreter Tier (ensuring the process is transparent, humble, and open to critique)

There is also a foundational tier for this framework, which we can call Tier Zero. This tier consists of axioms that the other tiers implicitly depend on.

Before any values can be selected, adjudicated, or interpreted, there must be basic philosophical assumptions in place. These are the bedrock axioms upon which the entire Jewish ethical system rests. No one talks about these axioms too often because they were considered obvious truths. But in today’s intellectual environment, many of these premises are under direct attack. They must be named, clarified and defended.

These axioms are assumptions about human nature, moral reasoning and reality itself. These are not "values" in the traditional sense. They are metaphysical or epistemological commitments without which values are meaningless.

Truth Exists and Can Be Known: There is an objective reality, and moral and factual truths can be discovered and reasoned about.

This has been challenged by various philosophies over the past two centuries. Postmodernism says truth is relative, dependent on social, linguistic, or cultural context. Relativism, critical theory and other schools also disparage the existence of objective, knowable truth.

Judaism utterly rejects these ideas. Truth isn't relative, facts aren't subjective, different narratives do not have equal value. When one discards truth then one discards the very basis for a universal moral system.

Humans Have Moral Agency: People contain the capacity to choose, to reason, and to be held accountable for their choices.

Many philosophical schools disagree. Hard determinism, behaviorism and neuroscientific reductionism insist that biology, environmental factors or the unconscious determine how we act. The conclusion is that people cannot be held responsible for their actions.

This is anathema to Jewish thought. While Judaism recognizes that everyone has predispositions and their environments influence them, ultimately humans are able and are expected to transcend their inclinations and try to improve and perfect themselves. Those who paint themselves as eternal victims of circumstance are tragic; the person who rises above is heroic.

Right and Wrong Are Real Categories: There is such a thing as objective morality.

Moral relativism and postmodernism say that right and wrong are dependent on external factors like language and culture; moral naturalism says the concept of morality is an evolutionary artifact; Nietzsche says morality is simply an attempt by the weak to control the strong.

This is completely foreign to Jewish thinking. The concepts of justice, truth, and dignity are universal and foundational. A society that rejects morality is itself an evil society.

Humans Are Capable of Growth: Beyond moral agency, people have the inherent capacity to improve themselves.

Behaviorism claims all behavior is the result of environmental conditioning and people only change from external factors. The schools that deny moral agency inherently deny moral growth as well.

Judaism says that moral growth is not just possible but expected. The entire concept of teshuva, repentance, is based on the idea that everyone can change. Moral development is a lifelong pursuit. The idea of the "pintele Yid" that is within each Jew, even those who have done immoral acts, is the spark of the Divine that wants to do the right thing. Within the Jewish religion, everyone has a sacred soul; but even without the religious aspect, Judaism says that everyone can change.

Moral Disagreement Has Value: Arguments and differences of opinion are essential and eternal tools to reach objective truth.

This is a unique aspect of Jewish philosophy. While Greek philosophers valued debate to arrive at moral truths, once they decided they found it they rejected further discussion. Christian theology strived to arrive at consensus and other opinions were often framed as heresy. Other more modern philosophies reject the entire concept of truth.

Judaism sees argument as the path to truth - but acknowledges that truth is often complex, layered, and elusive. Sometimes the Talmud concludes with teiku - leaving the question unresolved until Messianic times. This is why all sides of the arguments are preserved - the assumption is that while there is objective truth, it is not always easy to determine, and it may have multiple aspects. Moreover, the arguments themselves help people grow. The moral decisions they make are the result not only of dictates from above but their own contributions to the discussion and humility to engage with others in pursuit of truth.

Human Dignity Is Inherent and Universal: Every human being has inherent worth that does not depend on merit, productivity, or identity. This is foundational to Jewish ethics and grounded in the idea that all people are created b’tzelem Elokim—in the image of God.

Some ethical and political systems reject this. Utilitarianism ranks people by usefulness; Nietzschean ethics mocks universal dignity as weakness; totalitarian regimes define worth by political utility or race; and modern reductionist science sometimes reduces people to neurological machinery. Even well-intentioned identity politics can fall into this trap by awarding dignity based on category rather than common humanity.

Judaism resists all of these. Human dignity, like life itself, is not earned. It is simply and profoundly there. Any moral system that fails to recognize this invites cruelty.

This is beyond "tzelem Elokim" in the values tier, which calls on everyone to treat everyone else with dignity. This is a underlying concept that the value builds upon.

For most of human history, these axioms were implicit. But in today’s intellectual landscape, postmodernism challenges the existence of truth. Deterministic science challenges free will. Moral relativism challenges the existence of good and evil. Behavioral economics and neuroscience reduce humans to predictable inputs and outputs.

These are not mere academic fads; they have filtered into popular culture, university curricula, public policy, and even technology design. Any ethical system must now defend its very right to exist.

The Jewish ethical system, by contrast, affirms these axioms explicitly through its structure, laws, literature, and traditions. And by naming these Tier Zero commitments, we show that:

The system is honest about its philosophical assumptions.
These assumptions are themselves open to critique, reflection, and reasoned defense.
The structure is robust precisely because it acknowledges the need for a moral metaphysics.

Without Tier Zero, the other layers collapse. With it, they form the most resilient, dynamic, and coherent moral system ever developed.

Tier Zero is what makes the other tiers possible. It is not itself an ethical method but the precondition for all ethical methods. Jewish ethics begins by assuming what many modern systems forget: that moral reasoning is real, humans are responsible, and truth matters.