Why be good?

[SteelCurtain]

Simon Moon

The objective basis for moral behavior is reality.

Morality is all about the well being of other humans (or sentient beings). Moral behavior increases the well being of other humans, and minimizes the harm to other humans.

I'm sure we can all agree on the following points:

1. We all live in the same reality, subject to the same physical laws.
2. We all have very similar physical bodies.
3. Because of this, we can extrapolate that what is harmful to my well being, is almost assuredly harmful to the vast majority of other humans' well being.

We just don't care.  We don't care about the well being of the vast majority of other humans.  That's just reality, and it's been made evident time after time after time after time.  Even now, we like our dogs more than most other human beings.  We like our TV's more than most other human beings.  We like taking a nap more than we like most other human beings.


We have no real preference to the life or death of some kid in china.  It just doesn't matter to us.  And why should it?  Because they have opposable thumbs too?  

For example: life is preferable to death, health is preferable to disease, freedom is preferable to slavery, comfort is preferable to discomfort, etc.

From there, all it takes is a modicum of empathy and rationality to understand that harming others well being is not advisable, since there is always someone in society with more power than you that has the ability to harm yours. 

As I said earlier, you've switched from right and wrong, to an issue of practicality.  Now the question is am I willing to risk X to get Y.  That's an entirely different idea than morality.

I think that's binary thinking. There is grey area. Maybe we aren't as concerned with the wellbeing of those we don't know as we are with our own or our family's. I do care about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. I can't feasibly do anything about it without jeopardizing my own wellbeing or my ability to support myself. So there is a subconscious choice there that I make. I do care about shitty working conditions in Chinese sweatshops. So I don't purchase the iPhone that was built there, because that's all I can do. I choose my own selfish desires over those less fortunate than me every time I buy a steak instead of Ramen or beer instead of drinking tap water. The money could have gone somewhere else and my hunger would have been eased and my thirst quenched just the same.

This speaks to another level of the absence of objectivity in morality. It is clearly better for more if I were to forgo the steak and give that extra $15 that I spent on it and the accompanying potato and asparagus, and give that money to an African charity instead so I could affect someone else's life positively. But I get pleasure from that steak and potato. I get pleasure from the beer. And that's okay. Another example is the amount of time I spend here. I could be volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or spending extra time at the shelter helping to match people up with dogs. But this place brings me happiness. Which is good for me.