Modernity frames itself as morality to make its contradictions bearable and justifiable

Evidence

In order to reckon with the unbearable heaviness of the ensuing contradictions within its fabric, modern understanding of the world had to be framed as a theory of morality (Guénon’s “moralism”), a necessary myth that, as I have been trying to show, makes irreconcilable contradictions not only bearable but eminently justifiable. … The balance between superiority and subjectivity has paradigmatically worked in favor of modern forms of morality, and largely of epistemology, for the coliseum of debate, including its presiding Caesar, remains undeniably modern. In a system that a priori sets limits to what can and cannot be acceptable standards of legitimate discourse, subjectivity and relativism work hand in hand and complement the stance of superiority—that which we know by the other names of racism and progress. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 461

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Guénon’s concept of ‘moralism’ — the idea that modern understanding is framed as a theory of morality to reconcile irreconcilable contradictions.
• DEEPTHINKING: The concept of moralism as a ‘necessary myth’ that makes contradictions bearable, plus the claim that relativism complements rather than contradicts superiority — ‘that which we know by the other names of racism and progress’ — is a genuinely paradigm-shifting analysis of how modern epistemology structures debate to always favor itself.
• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s regimes of truth and to the idea of a discourse that a priori sets the limits of legitimate debate — akin to critiques in decolonial theory (Mbembe, Mignolo).