Tiger "mistress", Jaimee Grubbs is not without a conscience. In a conversation with extra TV, she "couldn't describe how remorseful" she was to have hurt Elin the children. None-the-less, she does not feel all that bad as, she says, "If it wasn't me, it was going to be other girls."
Traditional teachers advanced standards of behavior -- classical virtue, religious righteousness -- to be adhered to for their own sake. Von Hayek observes that this traditionally morality is everywhere being replaced by "social conscience" -- being guided by awareness of the effect of our actions on others.
Von Hayek critiques this new thinking on its own terms. He argues that traditional moral rules are, themselves, social phenomenon -- evolving societal understandings, required as people cannot possibly fully understand the complex consequences flowing from their own actions. To Von Hayek, true social conscience demands respect for traditional rules.
Pragmatically -- as illustrated by the Prisoner's Dilemma -- any consequence-driven social morality seems unlikely to be ultimately upheld. In the end, whatever we do, other people will pollute, deal arms, sell predatory mortgages, mislead on their mortgage applications, separate fools and their money, sleep with married billionaires, etc, so why should we abstain? The Obama Administration has, in fact, played to this lesser angel, in the stimulus debate, suggesting critics opt out.
Tiger, of course, has no similar excuse for his choices. He has, thankfully, not yet attempted to justify them. That said, it is hard for us to simply condemn him, knowing that few men could withstand the temptations he faced. By some measure, his sin, so to speak, was not being a saint. Or, perhaps, his true mistake, given his place in life, was aspiring to-, thinking he could-, be a father and a husband.
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