(May 3, 2014 at 4:35 am)Freedom of thought Wrote: I think objective morals are grounded in the process of evolution, which exists independent of ourselves. Evolutionary speaking, the only way for a social species like ourselves can survive is by evaluating the consequences of our actions on others, and by minimizing the suffering we put onto others. If we were all being horrible to each other all the time we wouldn't last long. Of course, there is still always going to be tribalism against competing tribes, this can be seen in the wars that plagued our species. This can also be attributed to religion (my god vs your god) and our 'superiority' complex, were we always think we are superior to the next tribe, when there is little difference between them; This is also another cognitive bias we have. There is no doubting it, human morals come from evolution. I don't think that degrades the meaning of morals at all. Morals therefore aren't 'illusory', they are a real feature of our brains, just as our sight and smell.If the universe is truly deterministic, then you can say that both free will and morality are ultimately objective. But that doesn't help us talk about or establish a set of mores-- it's more a disinterest in doing so.
Anyway, whether we "really" have free will or not, we call subjective those mental processes of which we are consciously aware. If this were not so, then an unconscious person, being part of the universal determinism, would be no less a moral agent than the conscious one-- which represents a semantic failure.
