Religion likes to perceive itself as the keeper of morality for mankind, as if morality is something more than a code of acceptable and unacceptable behavior designed to keep social and political animals such as man functional. Religionists see it as a universal constant and are constantly complaining about relative morality and situational ethics. To the religious, morality is some type of supernatural thought pattern dreamed up by God as a measure of holiness to which there are several ways to bridge the gap and thus have a relationship with him. Christianity seeks to bridge the gap with faith in a morality sacrifice whereas others seek to bridge the gap with disciplinary life measures and faith.
No one has answered, though, to my satisfaction anyway, why should morality be a universal constant? If anything, evidence shows that it's anything but. It certainly isn't universal to every sentient species on this planet. There are certain things that are universal among humans, at least among their own localities with variations of the themes among differing cultures. I don't intend to go into all of the details, but it just seems to me if there's no universality on planet earth, why should morality be a constant in the cosmos?
It may be perfectly moral for a lion in the jungle to eat a human being for species survival as to the lion, that would be in the best interest of what he perceives is the common good. Likewise if a race of advanced aliens decides that the cosmos would be better off without human beings, then the greater morality would call for our destruction.
So that said, what evidence is there of morality being a universal constant, except perhaps our wishful thinking?
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There are some basic principles of morality that are constant, but they are not cosmic. They apply to human beings. Morality only has meaning where there is choice. Human beings need a code of conduct to follow because our primary means of survival is reason. Since reason is a faculty of the individual, we need freedom to use reason as best as we can in order to make the most of our lives.
These are some of the basics that are constant in human morality, and remain true in all cultures, whether or not those cultures recognize them. But the spectrum of moral ideas and actions runs from these absolutes down to things that are relative, or even optional.
These absolutes are the reasons why most people in civilized countries see things like female genital mutilation as barbaric and abhorrent. This is because no matter what culture a woman lives in, she has the right to her own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Female genital mutilation causes suffering and pain, reduces a woman's ability to enjoy life, and is a means for men to impose their subjugation of women. Multiculturalists who excuse FGM because "its part of their culture" ignore these facts.
So is morality. It is amazing to see that those who try to impose morality on others are some of the biggest immoral people around.
Man created religion, religion created God and Religion and God together divided the land, created hate and started wars in the name of religion and god.
God is sitting helpless watching mans cruelty to each other not knowing what to do or don't want to get involved in man's lunacy.
While religion ended up being used to control men, that's not why it came into existance. It was invented by primitive man to explain phenomena he couldn't understand, everything from death to thunder and lightening. We should be smart enough by now not to need that crutch to lean on. As for God "sitting helpless watching man's cruelty," well, like Charlie used to say, "There is no God." I kinda wish there were so he could see how stupid are the creatures he "created."
There's eye for an eye! There's no eye for an eye. There's ten eyes for an eye. Just depends what culture you're in. Morality is created by the culture to give it order, and the order helps insure it's survival. If the morality does not adapt to changes in the threats to that culture, good chances the culture will not survive.
morality with the Japanese...no looting going on. So much grace while suffering with dignity. It must be a cultural thing because when a diaster hits our nation, you see the "entitled" folks running down the streets with tvs. Greed is the constant in these cosmos and religious are greedy too! I stopped going to church, been sick and a family member died. I received no visit from my pastor to grief counsel me; and no one missed me until they were raising money for a "building fund". i got a nice glossy package in the mail.
If you touch a hot stove, you're get burned. How do you react? You arm jerks quickly away from the stove. Do you want to know something kinda freaky? You muscles will react to move your arm away from the stove BEFORE pain receptors in your brain perceive that you have been burned. In other words, your arm moves from the stove before your brain even comes into play. How does this happen? Our sympathetic nervous system takes over.
Any organism must survive. To protect itself from predators, from exposure, and to sometimes protect itself from getting burned. Our bodies are very well adapted to do this. So much so, that when fight or flight response occurs, rational thought and even consciousness can take a back seat.
Now this all works quite well for an individual organism. But what if an organism lives in a group? What if they use group strategies for survival? The survival of a singular organism is no longer the primary objective, just as the survival of a singular cell is not the primary objective in an organism. What matters is the survival of the group.
So how does a group of organisms respond to negative stimuli when they are not connected through shared neural networks? They learn to detect it.
Has anyone ever noticed how odd it is that human beings are particularly well versed at facial expressions? Studies have been done, that shows that new born infants understand what a smile looks like. They know what a smile is before they get a chance to learn what it means. Understanding facial expressions is hard-wired into our DNA. It is how we understand how others perceive the world. This is so hardwired, that facial expressions have a direct impact on your mood. Try smiling and be angry at the same time. It's damn near impossible.
Now perceiving what others are experiencing is one thing. But in order to ensure the survival of the group, we must be compelled to address negative stimuli in others as automatically as we pull our hands from hot ovens.
That mechanism is called empathy. It is so strongly embedded in us at our core, that when we see a baby crying on television we feel an uncontrollable urge to console it, regardless of whether it's our child or not.
And that is where morality comes from. It is a product of human evolution, to best ensure our survival. And that being the case, I would argue that the more we disregard our sense of empathy, the less likely we are to survive as a species.
And yes, I think this has grave implications for the validity of Cultist doctrines of "enlightened" self-interest.
-- Modified on 4/3/2011 9:19:19 PM