To the editor:

Like most tin-horn moralists, columnist Michael Goodwin bemoans America’s moral decay in narrow terms, preferring, too typically, to focus on sexual issues like rampant exhibitionism and blithely leaping past the panorama of other greater moral failures we have descended to.

Whether the problem is violence or greed or lust, however, amateur philosophers across the cultural spectrum usually commit one of two stupid errors. On the one hand are those who ascribe morality to an absolute, cosmic source, revealed through gurus, prophets and other cryptic characters of dubious veracity. On the other hand, there are those who see morality as a purely personal preference, who reject high-handed rules and sally forth to do what their infantile urges please. At root, both sides assume that if there is no overarching, received list of moral rules, then anything goes.

But morality is neither superhuman nor individual in origin; it is a product of social interaction, an ongoing discussion and invention, the legacy of our evolution as a gregarious species, the recognition that we need one another to survive and thrive. Morality is, first and finally, about how we treat others, and whether we interact in ways that promote our cooperative success and mutual respect, nothing more and nothing less. Spread that simple, obvious idea for a few generations, Mr. Goodwin, and I think you’ll see some improvement, with less exploitation of sexual obsession for commercial purposes or sexual repression for religious ones – not to mention other moral concerns, of course.

Bruce S. Springsteen,

Lawrence