We should take the Moral Highground

[genkaus]

Then the question becomes this. From where does the 'moral sense' get its character? What allows DP to say that things like empathy and fair play are right? DP wants to say that we should follow the dictates of our inner sense of right and wrong. Why? DP says there's a survival benefit.

My point is that the survival benefit is at the genetic level, not the individual. Animals are really just gene delivery devices. Once the genetic information has been passed along, evolution doesn't care if you die. If lying, cheating, stealing, and yes raping, work as a strategy for leaving a genetic legacy then an evolution-based morality is really no morality at all.

I'd say that the 'moral sense' comes in when our actions are no longer completely determined by our instincts and natural drives. Once we find that we are capable of reflecting upon our actions, of choosing to act any any manner other than what comes naturally and consider the consequences of those actions - we find ourselves looking for a guide to act according to. Our instincts and drives do favor a particular direction for this guide, but they do not completely determine it.

I'd say that if we are to have any morality at all, it should be based on reason, not instincts or divine command.