Morality In The Type 8

The moral component

All humans cannot function without a moral component in their worldview, it is as essential as logical reasoning or sympathetic capability. It acts the social glue that makes greater social concepts possible, its essential for enabling civilized society and all the benefits it brings. Normative morality in the current age revolve around prosocial concepts, their purpose is to ensure greater cohesion and the flourishing of all individuals within a framework, it is a SUPER-EGO worldview and manifests as prosocial intrinsic values that one develops in their formative years by healthy nature and nurture factors. This morality is developed, typical and what separates humans from animals. It steers actions in a certain direction and without this steering mechanism, we would lose one of the greatest motivators of action.

Morality however did not develop from a vacuum, it developed from something called “proto-morality”, a morality that is present in animals and takes on a less refined manifestation. Rather than insuring greater societal BENEFITS and STABILITY, it insures personal BENEFITS and STABILITY (of the self), this form of morality is more so related to the ID and is primed at ensuring the survivability of the self and the immediate social circle.

If developed morality views the betterment of greater humanity as the ultimate “GOOD” then proto-morality on the other hand views the betterment of the self as also the ultimate “GOOD”. If morality views ALL ACTIONS made in the preservation of greater humanity as “GOOD” then proto-morality views ALL ACTIONS made in the immediate preservation of the self as also the ultimate “GOOD”, and by defacto, all actions that result in the destruction of the self as “EVIL”.

All the moral principles of JUSTICE, FAIRNESS, FREEDOM and more are only applied to the self instead of humanity as a whole, therefore any transgression on the self acts as an immoral act and justifies all reciprocating actions, explaining the excessiveness in retaliation.

How does this manifest in the 8?

Like all humans, the 8 needs a functioning moral component in the psyche, this moral component in the 8 is in fact distinct but not in the way that many believe, it is not an evil or even corrupted sense of morality, it is rather a completely different model that is adopted in the formative years, this model is not chosen but acts a necessary component that ensures the survival of the psyche under trauma and adverse experiences. The 8 reverts back to something equivalent to the “proto-morality” discussed earlier, this is a normal response to adverse experiences and is nothing but a tool to aid the psyche in coping with trauma of the formative years.

The thing that one should understand is that morality, whether normative or primitive, is a pragmatic adaptation based system, meaning its goal is not irrational or meaningless, rather its goal is to serve the betterment of a species, cooperation and sympathy serve the greater specie and strengthen the social bond, in this way, both proto and normative frameworks are the same, with identical principles and values, only difference is that one is applied to a collective yet the other is applied to the self.

Taking this knowledge into account, we can see a distinct parallel between normative morality and proto morality, essentially, they both wish for the same things, IE: the empowerment, advancement and flourishing of the subject, either humanity (normative) or the self (proto). Given this information, now we can understand the moral outlook of the 8.

Using this logic, one has to conclude that the 8’s sense of morality is neither bad natured or corrupted, rather it is underdeveloped and essentially exclusive, normative morality wants the empowerment and advancement of all HUMANS, while primitive morality wants the empowerment and advancement of the SELF, these are the same goals but aimed at different “audiences”, this explains the “ego-centric” nature of the type, it is not due to ill intent per se, however, simply due to a different moral outlook.

How does this work?

If it harms me, betrays me or subjugates me then it is “BAD”

If it empowers me or makes me invulnerable then it is “GOOD”

This is a black and white and utilitarian view of morality, it is not uncommon for 8s to view inaction at the face of oppression as a moral evil within itself, this explains why (a moral person reciprocates transgressions), or (a moral person stands up for their loved ones), instead of saying (one should stand up for humanity as as whole).

Whatever serves the self is considered morally good, same way one could say whatever serves humanity is also morally good, now one can see the inner thought process of the individual, ego centricity is nothing but a collapsed social outlook.

The 8 cannot function without its own sense of moral justifiers, as humans, doing so creates cognitive dissonance and an unstable mind, and so in the case of the 8, this protoic sense of morality is crucial in functioning and operating in the world, and it acts as the tool that protects their psyche from trauma.

Understanding this entails that the antisocial nature of the type is not rooted in malice, rather, almost all the mechanisms of the type act as practical, logical and necessary adaptations in the face of trauma, moral outlooks included.

The way this manifests is the following:

8s in their neurosis find themselves transgressing boundaries and externalizing harmful behavior all in the serving of the self, since the self is the only moral subject, others outside of the self are not registered in the moral perspective, they justify and essentially deem all actions that protect against vulnerability and shame as necessary, the lack of guilt exhibited in the type is correlated to this, all actions made in the preservation and expansion of the self is “morally” justified, in most cases, this moral perspective is expanded to include close ones to the 8, or in most cases, innocent bystanders such as kids or animals.

If you were to observe the person from the 3rd person, you would see them operating with limited guilt and remorse for their actions, justification is usually (they did this to me, they deserve it), this shows that their sense of exclusive morality is perhaps significant, it is perhaps the main driver of vengeance for the type, since they essentially feel morally obligated to reciprocate transgressions with no hesitation, if asked if they are moral individuals, they will likely proclaim that they are, and if pushed to explain their sense of morality, they can say the following: (I stand up for myself, I have a backbone) or ( I protect my loved ones) rather than saying (I watch out for everyone).

Conclusion

Understanding this can help explain some of the characteristics of the type, the extreme aversion to vulnerability is not just a reaction of disgust, but also a moral judgement that is externalized against weakness or compliance, according to such individual, the “ultimate moral good” is the protection of oneself against betrayal and vulnerability, while the “ultimate moral evil” is the collapse of the self against such concepts, since doing so does not only remind the individual of the trauma, but also risks the individual experiencing a disintegration so severe it can lead to suicidal ideation or neurosis.

In conclusion, we can understand that both proto and normative morality essentially hold the same positive values, they only differ in application however, instead of it being applied to a greater audience, it is instead simplistically applied to a smaller circle. This is due to the traumatic upbringing of the 8, morality is used to further deter trauma and is utilized against further fracturing or vulnerability.