THE UNITED STATES AND SOVIET UNION ARE SEPARATED BY SOMETHING MORE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R001001580041-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 26, 2007
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: July 1, 1982
• Content Type: REPORT

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University of California, Irvine
202-D-82
UCI Public Information Office
Irvine, California 92717
[phone]
July 1, 1982
The United States and the Soviet Union are separated by something more
fundamental than their respective ideologies, according to a new *book by a UC
Irvine research psychologist.
In "Algebra of Conscience: A Comparative Analysis of Western and Soviet
Ethical Systems" Dr. Vladimir Lefebvre posits the existence of two types of
ethical systems, one predominating in the United States, the other holding sway in
the Soviet Union. These systems influence the thinking and behavior of the
general populace and leaders alike, Lefebvre says. They are so basic and so
different that they make understanding difficult between the two countries since
the nations are not playing by the same ethical rules.
Lefebvre says that those who operate under the Western (or "first") ethical
system are opposed to compromise between good and evil, even as a means of
achieving good ends. These same people--which is to say most of the people in
the West--hold as a cultural ideal, however, the notion of compromise in
situations of conflict with others.
-more-
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LEFEBVRE BOOK
Page 2
In the Soviet (or "second") system, the opposite is true, Lefebvre says. The
Soviets have a positive attitude toward compromise between good and evil as a
means of achieving good ends but are uncompromising in confrontations with
others. They hold, in other words, that the end justifies the means but that one
must not compromise with opponents.
The disparity between the systems is exemplified in differing national
attitudes toward a well-known episode in American history.
"There is hardly a single person in the Soviet Union who could understand
what the Watergate scandal was about," says Lefebvre, who emigrated from the
Soviet Union to the United States in 1974. "There were many there who knew the
details of the episode, but they can give only a strategical analysis, not a moral
one; they cannot understand the ethical dilemma of the situation. They think
Nixon behaved in an ethically correct manner. He, had important goals on behalf
of his country; he tried to preseve his own prestige and that of the United States
and the presidency. Had he killed a few persons that would not have been
important."
Those who operate under the second system. may value the compromise
between good and evil in achieving goals, but they despise such compromise in
dealings with adversaries.
"A few years ago, President Carter kissed (Soviet President) Brezhnev when
the two met in Vienna," Lefebvre says. "From the American point of view, this
was a demonstration of standard Christian (compromising) behavior. But from the
Soviet point of view this was a demonstration of weakness. The normative ideal
in the Soviet Union is of strength in an uncompromising person."
-more-
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LEFEBVRE BOOK
Page 3
Lefebvre marshals evidence from several sources to support his contention
that the West operates under one ethical system while the Soviet Union operates
under another. He looked at the Ten Commandments as a basic codification of
Western ethics; its counterpart in the Soviet Union, he says, is the "Moral Code of
a Builder of Communism," which is part of the program of the Communist Party.
He also evaluated heroes in literature and folklore.
Further, he conducted his own comparative survey. Using a questionnaire,
he posed identical moral choices to 62 Americans and 84 recent Soviet immigrants
to America. The results uniformly supported his thesis, he says.
One of the survey's statements, for example, was, "One may send a cheat
sheet during a competitive exam to a close friend." Only 8 percent of the
Americans agreed with the statement, compared to 62 percent of the Soviet
immigrants. When the statement was posed in the negative ("One must not send a
cheat sheet...") 90 percent of the Americans agreed, compared to 37.5 percent of
the Soviet immigrants.
Ethnocentrism is such that Westerners may be quick to judge the Soviet
stance "amoral" but this is not the case, Lefebvre says. The Soviet position is
based on "moral cognition." It represents a different standard of ethics, not a
lack of ethics.
The U.S.-Soviet ethical disparity may be the most significant "real world"
information to emerge from "The Algebra of Consicence" but the book is not
simply an informal comparison of the two countries. It delivers what its title
implies: A mathematical formulation of ethical relationships.
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LEFEBVRE BOOK
Page 4
A "structural relationship" exists between good and evil no matter how these
terms are defined in a given culture, Lefebvre says. Thus, a mathematical
formula can be drawn up that formalizes this relationship. Lefebvre's formula
(which uses Boolean algebra) can be used to predict a hierarchy of archetypical
individuals within ' the two ethical systems; its categories are "saint," "hero,"
"philistine" and "dissembler." A saint, at the top, behaves sacrificially but doesn't
evaluate his behavior as such. A dissembler, at the other end, falsely evaluates
his behavior as sacrificial. Heroes and philistines fall in between.
Identical behaviors would rank an individual at different stations in the two
systems -one culture's hero is another culture's philistine. Given either system,
however, ranking can be predicted in accordance with behavior. The formula also
provides a mathematical expression for the relationship between image of "self"
and image of "opponent" in ethical situations.
Perhaps the most striking claim Lefebvre makes for his formula is that it is
not merely a construct for comparing ethical behaviors. The formula, he says,
describes ethical interrelationships that are as fixed as relationships in the world
of physics. ? The formula is, therefore, as immutable as the rule of physics that
describes the relationship between pressure, density and heat, for example.
Though "Algebra of Conscience" does not make value judgments about the
two ethical systems it deals with, Lefebvre personally believes that the Western
ethical system is superior to the Soviet system. Such tragedies as the mass
murder and terror carried out under Stalin are, in a sense, the logical outcome of
the second system, he says. Stalin's actions were to some extent "justified" by the
system's first maxim: It is acceptable to compromise with evil in order to achieve
goals. Stalin, in turn, felt compelled to carry out such campaigns because of the
system's second rule: Compromise with. enemies is dishonorable. Any small
conflict is thus likely to become a large conflict in the second system.
-more-
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Y.EFEBVRE BOOK
Page 5
Moreover, the second system contains an inherent contradiction. Societies
which adhere to the system value the "proud man" who will fight all enemies, yet
they cannot tolerate him. Thus, such people in the Soviet Union must be-indeed,
have been-eliminated. In the Soviet Union such persons exist only as an abstract,
unachievable ideal; they are largely the figment of memory, as in the case of the
Soviet heroes of World War 11. Soviet society, Lefebvre says, is now in a philistine
phase in which persons have low self-respect and obey any strong opponent.
The disparity between the Soviet and Western ethical systems is a severely
limiting factor in U.S.-Soviet relations, Lefebvre says. He is "very pessimistic"
about the possibility of any real dialogue between the two nations, even assuming
that both could be made aware of the different "rules" under which each operates.
"Ethical" actions of the two are to a certain degree mutually exclusive.
Compromise by one is viewed as evil by the other; conciliatory gestures by one
are considered contemptible by the other. The long-term prospect, he says, is not
encouraging.
Vladimir Lefebvre was a research scientist at the Central Mathematical
Economics Institute in Moscow before emigrating to the United States in 1974
along with his wife, Victorina. Lefebvre left the Soviet Union, he says, because
he could not tolerate conditions there, particularly in his field, psychology.
"Psychiatric abuses" in the Soviet Union-in which political prisoners have falsely
been declared "insane" by Soviet authorities-convinced the Lefebvres they had to
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LEFEBVRE BOOK
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As luck would have it, they chose to do so at a time when Soviet policies
toward emigration were relatively unrestrictive. Lefebvre became a lecturer in
UCI's School of Social Sciences in 1977 and received an appointment as a research
psychologist in the school in 1978. Victorina Lefebvre is an assistant research
psychologist in the school; she translated "The Algebra of Conscience" from the
Russian and aided in research on it. "The Algebra of Conscience" was published
by D. Reidel, Holland.
CONTACT: David Krogh, Public Information Representative, [phone].
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A criminal can be punished more severely than the law requires, if
this may serve as a deterrknt for others.
2. A doctor should conceal from a patient that he has cancer, in
. order to diminish the patient's suffering.
Yes
3.' A good person in a situation of conflict with an insolent person:
would not seek compromise with him
would seek compromise with him
4. Two terrorists are hijacking a small plane. There is a possibility
of killing them without injury to the passengers. Another possibility
is to start negotiations first and try to persuade them to surrender.
The head of the rescue group made the lecision not to negotiate with
the criminals.
Did he act correctly?
No
arse .. -.
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 TS
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RO01 001580041-5 SOVIE
umber
of
atement
STATEMENTS
percent
in
agreement
two-tailed
confident
interval
for p=95%
percent
in
agreement
two-tailed
confident
interval
for p=95%
A criminal can be punished more severaly than the law
requires, i,f this may serve as a deterrant for others.
Yes
11.1
+6.5
76.1
?8.03
No
A doctor should conceal from a patient that he has
cancer, in order to diminish the patient's suffering.
Yes
1.14
?4.1
74.5
?8.18
A good person in a situation of conflict with an
insolent person:
would not seek compromise with him
24.1
? 9.05
73.6
?8.27
would seek compromise with him
Two terrorists are hijacking a small plane. There
24.7
?8.95
55.4
?9.33
is a possibility of killing them without injury to
the passengers. Another possibility is to start
negotiations first and try to persuade them to
surreder. The head of the rescue group made the
decision not to negotiate with the criminals.
Did he act correctly?
Yes
No
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 number
of
pair
4
c.
number
of
statement
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1 YY I G L9 A
STATEMENTS
AMERICANS
SOVIETS
A doctor should conceal from a
patient that he has 'cancer, in
order to diminish his suffering.
A doctor should not conceal fray
a patient that he has cancer, in
order to diminish his suffering.
A malefactor can be punished more
severely than the law requires,
if this may serve as a deterrent
for others.
A malefactor cannot be punished
more severely than the law
requires, even if this may serve
as a deterrent for others.
One may give false evidence in
order to help an innocent person
avoid jail.
One must not give false evidence
even in order to help an innocent
person avoid jail.
One may send a cheat sheet during
a competitive examination to a
close friend.
One must not send a cheat sheet
during a competitive examination,
even to a close friend.
percent
in
agreement
two-tailed
confidential
interval
for p=95%
percent
in
agreement.
two-tailed
confidential
interval
for p=95%
8.0
* 6.8
89.0
? 6.7
15.8
? 8.0
11.5
?8.0
84.5
? 7.8
83.6
?9.4
28.0
? 9.9
19.9
?8.4
65.0
?10.0
82.25
?9.6
42.5
?10.7
?10.1
90.3
?7.4
37.5
?10.3
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ificial
vidual
sacrificial
vidual
philistine
Table 1
First ethical system
end does not justify means
non-aggressive:
tends toward compromise with a
partner; has low self-evaluation
non-aggressive:
tends toward compromise with a
partner; has high self-evaluation
aggressive:
tends toward conflict with a
partner; has low self-evaluation
aggressive:
tends toward conflict with a
partner; has high self-evaluation
Second ethical system
end justifies means
aggressive:
tends toward conflict with a
partner; has low self-evaluation
aggressive:
tends toward conflict with a
partner, has high self-evaluatio
non-aggressive:
tends toward compromise with a
partner; has low self-evaluation
i non-aggressive:
tends toward compromise with a
partner; has high self -evaluatio
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II
hero
philistine
Pop John Paul II
Sakharov
F.D'.. Roosevelt
Karter
Lenin
Khomeini
Ho Chi Minh
Castro, Tito, Caddafi
Stalin, Andropov
Hitler
Pinochet Sadat
Franco
Shah of Iran
dissembler Somoza
Kosygin
Khrushchev
Brezhnev
STAT
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