The Six Commitments in Common Belief — Where Ordinary People Already Hold Them

 

The Six Commitments in Common Belief — Where Ordinary People Already Hold Them

Theoretical framework: Grant C. Sterling. Mind map architecture: Dave Kelly. Prose rendering: Claude.

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SIX-COMMITMENTS-IN-COMMON-BELIEF
│
├─ 1. SUBSTANCE-DUALISM (C1)
│   ├─ Religious-Traditions
│   │   ├─ Christianity — immortal-soul-distinct-from-body (near-universal)
│   │   ├─ Islam — ruh-as-immaterial-self-surviving-death
│   │   ├─ Judaism — neshama-as-distinct-spiritual-substance
│   │   ├─ Hinduism — atman-as-true-self-not-identical-to-body
│   │   └─ Buddhism — contested-but-stream-of-consciousness-not-reducible
│   ├─ Folk-Psychology
│   │   ├─ I-am-not-my-body — universal-ordinary-self-description
│   │   ├─ grief-as-loss-of-person-not-merely-biological-system
│   │   ├─ identity-persists-through-physical-change (Ship-of-Theseus-intuition)
│   │   └─ near-death-experience-language — soul-leaving-body
│   ├─ Legal-and-Social-Practice
│   │   ├─ murder-as-killing-a-person-not-a-body — person-is-more-than-matter
│   │   ├─ persistent-vegetative-state-debates — where-is-the-person
│   │   └─ criminal-responsibility-presupposes-mental-distinct-from-physical
│   └─ Common-Speech
│       ├─ my-body — implies-owner-distinct-from-owned
│       ├─ losing-my-mind — not-losing-my-brain
│       └─ heart-vs-head — inner-life-as-categorically-distinct-domain
│
├─ 2. LIBERTARIAN-FREE-WILL (C2)
│   ├─ Universal-Moral-Practice
│   │   ├─ praise-and-blame — assume-agent-could-have-done-otherwise
│   │   ├─ moral-indignation — presupposes-genuine-choice
│   │   ├─ gratitude — only-makes-sense-if-giver-chose-freely
│   │   └─ forgiveness — assumes-agent-was-responsible-originator
│   ├─ Legal-Systems-Worldwide
│   │   ├─ criminal-law — mens-rea-requires-genuine-choice
│   │   ├─ insanity-defense — diminished-control-diminishes-guilt
│   │   ├─ duress-as-mitigating — coercion-reduces-but-does-not-eliminate-responsibility
│   │   └─ sentencing — treats-choice-as-real-not-illusory
│   ├─ Religious-Teaching
│   │   ├─ Christianity — repentance-requires-genuine-turning-of-will
│   │   ├─ Islam — human-accountability-before-God-presupposes-free-will
│   │   ├─ Judaism — teshuvah-as-genuine-return-of-free-agent
│   │   └─ Hinduism — karma-requires-agent-as-real-cause-of-action
│   └─ Ordinary-Resistance-to-Determinism
│       ├─ you-chose-that — near-universal-ordinary-accusation
│       ├─ I-could-not-help-it — treated-as-excuse-requiring-justification
│       └─ he-had-a-choice — bedrock-common-moral-judgment
│
├─ 3. ETHICAL-INTUITIONISM (C3)
│   ├─ Universal-Moral-Reactions
│   │   ├─ torture-of-innocents-is-wrong — immediate-no-argument-needed
│   │   ├─ child-abuse — recognized-as-wrong-before-any-theory-applied
│   │   ├─ gratuitous-cruelty — condemned-without-calculation
│   │   └─ moral-shock — reaction-precedes-reasoning-in-all-cultures
│   ├─ Common-Moral-Speech
│   │   ├─ just-wrong — conversation-stopper-not-premise-in-argument
│   │   ├─ obviously-right — appeals-to-direct-moral-perception
│   │   ├─ no-decent-person-would — invokes-shared-direct-apprehension
│   │   └─ self-evident — explicitly-intuitionist-in-ordinary-use
│   ├─ Cross-Cultural-Convergence
│   │   ├─ prohibition-on-murder — no-culture-endorses-arbitrary-killing
│   │   ├─ care-for-children — universal-without-derivation-from-theory
│   │   ├─ reciprocity-norms — golden-rule-in-every-major-tradition
│   │   └─ betrayal-as-wrong — recognized-independently-of-consequences
│   └─ Religious-Moral-Teaching
│       ├─ conscience — inner-voice-giving-direct-moral-knowledge
│       ├─ natural-law — Aquinas-popularized-but-folk-version-is-universal
│       └─ image-of-God — humans-as-moral-knowers-by-nature
│
├─ 4. FOUNDATIONALISM (C4)
│   ├─ Ordinary-Epistemic-Practice
│   │   ├─ some-things-just-are-true — refusal-of-infinite-regress
│   │   ├─ you-have-to-start-somewhere — universal-folk-epistemology
│   │   ├─ that-speaks-for-itself — claim-to-self-evidence
│   │   └─ basics-are-basics — hierarchical-knowledge-as-assumed
│   ├─ Religious-Frameworks
│   │   ├─ Ten-Commandments — foundational-from-which-other-duties-derive
│   │   ├─ Sharia-foundational-principles — from-which-specific-rulings-derived
│   │   ├─ scripture-as-foundation — all-derived-from-revealed-base
│   │   └─ creed — foundational-propositions-from-which-theology-builds
│   ├─ Legal-Systems
│   │   ├─ constitutional-law — foundational-from-which-statute-derives
│   │   ├─ natural-rights — foundational-not-derived-from-positive-law
│   │   └─ rule-of-law-itself — non-negotiable-base-not-subject-to-revision
│   └─ Ordinary-Moral-Argument
│       ├─ first-principles — commonly-invoked-without-philosophical-training
│       ├─ that-is-non-negotiable — marks-a-foundational-commitment
│       └─ bedrock-conviction — folk-term-for-basic-belief
│
├─ 5. CORRESPONDENCE-THEORY (C5)
│   ├─ Universal-Folk-Epistemology
│   │   ├─ that-is-just-not-true — assumes-mind-independent-standard
│   │   ├─ face-the-facts — reality-as-external-judge-of-belief
│   │   ├─ wishful-thinking — error-named-as-belief-failing-correspondence
│   │   └─ see-things-as-they-are — correspondence-as-epistemic-ideal
│   ├─ Legal-Practice
│   │   ├─ perjury-law — false-statement-as-failure-to-correspond-to-fact
│   │   ├─ evidence — material-presented-to-test-whether-claim-matches-reality
│   │   ├─ verdict — corresponds-to-what-actually-happened
│   │   └─ oath-to-tell-truth — truth-as-correspondence-assumed-throughout
│   ├─ Journalism-and-History
│   │   ├─ fact-checking — tests-claim-against-what-actually-occurred
│   │   ├─ eyewitness-testimony — value-rests-on-correspondence-assumption
│   │   └─ historical-record — what-actually-happened-as-standard
│   └─ Religious-Truth-Claims
│       ├─ God-exists — treated-as-correspondence-claim-not-preference
│       ├─ scripture-as-true — truth-understood-as-correspondence-not-utility
│       └─ heresy — false-correspondence-to-revealed-truth
│
└─ 6. MORAL-REALISM (C6)
    ├─ Universal-Moral-Practice
    │   ├─ that-was-wrong-regardless-of-what-anyone-thinks — core-folk-realism
    │   ├─ moral-progress-language — assumes-objective-standard-we-approach
    │   ├─ moral-outrage-at-past — slavery-was-wrong-even-when-accepted
    │   └─ moral-monsters — Hitler-Pol-Pot-wrong-not-just-unpopular
    ├─ Human-Rights-Tradition
    │   ├─ universal-declaration-1948 — rights-held-regardless-of-law-or-culture
    │   ├─ crimes-against-humanity — wrong-independent-of-any-jurisdiction
    │   ├─ Nuremberg — following-orders-no-defense — objective-moral-law-above-positive-law
    │   └─ genocide-as-crime — not-merely-culturally-disapproved
    ├─ Religious-Teaching
    │   ├─ divine-command — God-commands-because-good, not-good-because-commanded
    │   ├─ natural-moral-law — Catholic-tradition-explicitly-realist
    │   ├─ moral-sin — objective-wrongness-independent-of-subjective-attitude
    │   └─ judgment — actions-assessed-against-objective-moral-standard
    └─ Ordinary-Resistance-to-Relativism
        ├─ that-is-wrong-not-just-different — universal-folk-realist-judgment
        ├─ you-cannot-justify-that — appeal-to-objective-standard
        ├─ some-things-are-just-wrong — conversation-ending-realist-claim
        └─ moral-relativism-self-refuting — ordinary-people-notice-this

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Theoretical framework: Grant C. Sterling. Mind map architecture: Dave Kelly, 2026. Prose rendering: Claude.

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The Six Commitments in Common Belief — Commentary

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The six commitments are not minority positions that ordinary people are being asked to adopt. They are the default assumptions that ordinary people hold before philosophy arrives. The modern philosophical alternatives — eliminativism, hard determinism, relativism, anti-foundationalism, pragmatist theories of truth, moral constructivism — are the positions that require intellectual training and deliberate argument to reach. Common belief starts with substance dualism, free will, moral realism, and correspondence to fact. It takes sustained academic effort to talk people out of those.

This means Sterling's framework is not making a heterodox demand on ordinary people. It is articulating and defending what they already assume. The philosophical work is to show those assumptions are defensible — which is exactly what the six commitments do.

The sharpest instance is C6 — Moral Realism. The Nuremberg precedent is decisive: the entire legal framework of crimes against humanity, genocide prosecution, and universal human rights rests on the claim that some actions are wrong independent of what any culture, state, or majority believes. That is folk moral realism stated at the level of international law. Sterling's framework simply names and defends what that framework already requires.

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Theoretical framework: Grant C. Sterling. Commentary: Dave Kelly, 2026. Prose rendering: Claude.