Um, doesn't life work out better if we all get along and don't murder each other? Isn't your chance for survival and prosperity improved when you are A: not constantly at risk of dying, and B: not constantly at risk of getting thrown in prison for murder?
That's the obvious answer, but it skips over how malformed your initial question is, OP. Theists so often make the mistake of assuming that morality is all about them, which is why they phrase their moral questions as personal ones; "why be moral as an atheist? Why not go murder anyone you like? What's going to stop you?"
But morality isn't about individual people, it's about everyone together. Why be moral? Our entire society works better when we are. A society in which immoral behaviors are tolerated, where murder is allowed and rape is okay and so on, is demonstrably worse off. The reason human society works as well as it does is that it lets us specialize; we can have whole careers based around just medicine, or just farming, and we have a system in place that rewards those individual specialized labors and allows those who benefit from them to trust the working output of those labors. But what trust should the farmer have that his work will be compensated for when it's acceptable for the people to just steal from him? What confidence does the doctor have that his medical advice will be a benefit to him if killing him once you've got your prescription is okay?
Our entire social system is based on a mutual trust and agreement not to hurt one another. That trust breaks down, and our ability to have the comfortable lives that we do goes with it. Morality isn't about individuals; the reason you should be moral is that you want everyone else to be too. Not just your immediate social circle or your civilization- so many theist objections to what I'm saying just try to pull back the scale by one degree of separation, like "what if you killed someone you didn't know?" or "what if it benefits you to enslave another society?"- but everyone. Everything just works out better that way, for us all.
That's the obvious answer, but it skips over how malformed your initial question is, OP. Theists so often make the mistake of assuming that morality is all about them, which is why they phrase their moral questions as personal ones; "why be moral as an atheist? Why not go murder anyone you like? What's going to stop you?"
But morality isn't about individual people, it's about everyone together. Why be moral? Our entire society works better when we are. A society in which immoral behaviors are tolerated, where murder is allowed and rape is okay and so on, is demonstrably worse off. The reason human society works as well as it does is that it lets us specialize; we can have whole careers based around just medicine, or just farming, and we have a system in place that rewards those individual specialized labors and allows those who benefit from them to trust the working output of those labors. But what trust should the farmer have that his work will be compensated for when it's acceptable for the people to just steal from him? What confidence does the doctor have that his medical advice will be a benefit to him if killing him once you've got your prescription is okay?
Our entire social system is based on a mutual trust and agreement not to hurt one another. That trust breaks down, and our ability to have the comfortable lives that we do goes with it. Morality isn't about individuals; the reason you should be moral is that you want everyone else to be too. Not just your immediate social circle or your civilization- so many theist objections to what I'm saying just try to pull back the scale by one degree of separation, like "what if you killed someone you didn't know?" or "what if it benefits you to enslave another society?"- but everyone. Everything just works out better that way, for us all.
"YOU take the hard look in the mirror. You are everything that is wrong with this world. The only thing important to you, is you." - ronedee
Want to see more of my writing? Check out my (safe for work!) site, Unprotected Sects!
Want to see more of my writing? Check out my (safe for work!) site, Unprotected Sects!
