When ChadW asks "but why is it wrong" it seems he means "why shouldn't one do it" rather than "why is it we've come to this widely held belief that it is wrong to do so". The actual origins of moral phenomena - the answer to the "how did it come to be" question - doesn't, as DeistP so ably explained, carry any ought.
But neither does its natural origins erase the ought. Likewise we don't stop enjoying bacon or sex once we come to understand the functional origins of those desires. Moral considerations aren't really that different than other motivational forces. They just plug into something very deeply rooted in our psyches. Our connection to family and to tribe - and therefore anything which might sever that connection - will trigger all those raw compulsive feelings involving love, honor and duty.
Rationality doesn't sit apart from the body deciding abstractly what is required, permitted or forbidden. Apart from all those raw compulsive feelings, there are no ends for rationality to work toward. Reasoned systems of how best to serve our many impulses to care for and earn the respect of the tribe, never replace the role of those base desires.
But neither does its natural origins erase the ought. Likewise we don't stop enjoying bacon or sex once we come to understand the functional origins of those desires. Moral considerations aren't really that different than other motivational forces. They just plug into something very deeply rooted in our psyches. Our connection to family and to tribe - and therefore anything which might sever that connection - will trigger all those raw compulsive feelings involving love, honor and duty.
Rationality doesn't sit apart from the body deciding abstractly what is required, permitted or forbidden. Apart from all those raw compulsive feelings, there are no ends for rationality to work toward. Reasoned systems of how best to serve our many impulses to care for and earn the respect of the tribe, never replace the role of those base desires.
