Moral Man and Immoral Society
E480386
Moral Man and Immoral Society is a seminal 1932 work of Christian social ethics in which Reinhold Niebuhr argues that individuals can act morally but groups and societies are driven by power and self-interest, requiring realistic political constraints.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Moral Man and Immoral Society canonical | 2 |
| Reinhold Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4930599 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Moral Man and Immoral Society Context triple: [Reinhold Niebuhr, notableWork, Moral Man and Immoral Society]
-
A.
Their Morals and Ours
"Their Morals and Ours" is a 1938 political essay by Leon Trotsky that defends revolutionary socialist ethics against bourgeois morality and critiques Stalinism.
-
B.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
C.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
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D.
The Duties of Man and Other Essays
The Duties of Man and Other Essays is a collection of political and philosophical writings by Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, articulating his ideas on democracy, citizenship, and moral duty in the struggle for Italian unification and social progress.
-
E.
The Principles of Ethics
The Principles of Ethics is a major philosophical work by Herbert Spencer that systematically develops his evolutionary theory of morality and ethical conduct.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Moral Man and Immoral Society Target entity description: Moral Man and Immoral Society is a seminal 1932 work of Christian social ethics in which Reinhold Niebuhr argues that individuals can act morally but groups and societies are driven by power and self-interest, requiring realistic political constraints.
-
A.
Their Morals and Ours
"Their Morals and Ours" is a 1938 political essay by Leon Trotsky that defends revolutionary socialist ethics against bourgeois morality and critiques Stalinism.
-
B.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
C.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
-
D.
The Duties of Man and Other Essays
The Duties of Man and Other Essays is a collection of political and philosophical writings by Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, articulating his ideas on democracy, citizenship, and moral duty in the struggle for Italian unification and social progress.
-
E.
The Principles of Ethics
The Principles of Ethics is a major philosophical work by Herbert Spencer that systematically develops his evolutionary theory of morality and ethical conduct.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ work of Christian social ethics ⓘ |
| addresses |
limits of moral suasion in politics
ⓘ
relationship between ethics and power ⓘ role of coercion in achieving justice ⓘ |
| aimsTo | reconcile Christian ethics with political realism ⓘ |
| author | Reinhold Niebuhr ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| genre |
Christian ethics
ⓘ
political philosophy ⓘ social ethics ⓘ theology ⓘ |
| hasPart |
analysis of individual vs collective morality
ⓘ
critique of liberal optimism ⓘ discussion of coercion in social change ⓘ discussion of nationalism and war ⓘ reflection on class conflict ⓘ |
| hasReception |
considered a classic of Christian social thought
ⓘ
widely studied in theology and political ethics courses ⓘ |
| influenced |
20th-century political theology
ⓘ
Christian realism ⓘ ethics of international relations ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Christian theology
ⓘ
Marxist social analysis ⓘ social gospel movement ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
Christian realism
ⓘ
ethics of groups ⓘ individual ethics ⓘ morality ⓘ politics ⓘ power ⓘ social justice ⓘ |
| notableFor |
critique of purely idealistic ethics in politics
ⓘ
distinguishing individual morality from group morality ⓘ emphasis on power dynamics in social ethics ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool | Christian realism ⓘ |
| publicationDate | 1932 ⓘ |
| publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons ⓘ |
| religiousPerspective |
Christian ethics
ⓘ
Protestant Christianity ⓘ |
| thesis |
collective behavior is driven largely by power and self-interest
ⓘ
individuals are capable of moral behavior but groups tend to act immorally ⓘ realistic political constraints are necessary to check group egoism ⓘ |
| timePeriodDiscussed | early 20th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Moral Man and Immoral Society Description of subject: Moral Man and Immoral Society is a seminal 1932 work of Christian social ethics in which Reinhold Niebuhr argues that individuals can act morally but groups and societies are driven by power and self-interest, requiring realistic political constraints.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Moral Man and Immoral Society