Institutions may claim authoritative morality while suppressing both dissent and care ethics.
Thus, SMH serves not only as a diagnostic tool but also as a strategic framework for navigating moral conflict, ethical pluralism, and institutional critique.
5. Toward a New Moral Philosophy
The Setiawan Moral Hierarchy (SMH) invites a reconceptualization of moral philosophy that is responsive to the pluralism, contestation, and asymmetries that characterize our contemporary moral landscape. Rather than seeking a monolithic source of legitimacy, whether reason, consensus, or divine command, this new framework affirms the reality of moral polyphony while retaining the possibility of normative evaluation.
5.1 Reframing Moral Legitimacy
At its core, this new moral philosophy rejects the idea that moral legitimacy is derivable from a single epistemic source or universal procedure. Instead, it:
Recognizes that individuals may act morally from deeply internalized affective convictions (Layer 1),
Or from socially shared norms and collective conscience (Layer 2),
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Or from submission to authoritative structures---whether legal, religious, or ideological (Layer 3),
Or from hegemonic discourses that shape perception and desire (Layer 4),
Or from a non-empirical, often transcendent orientation, drawn from mystical, spiritual, or metaphysical insight (Layer 5).
