Is There a Point To Living a Moral Life?

[popeyespappy]

For an atheist morality is only a mixture of current social tastes and evolutionary beneficial behavior in a social species. You don't go around killing people because you don't want people going around killing you. Beyond that morality as concept only exists in human brains.

I won't speak for Esquilax, but I generally agree with your first sentence, partially agree with the second one and disagree with the third.

Yes, morality is based in current social norms and beneficial behavior that evolved in our social species. It most likely has its roots in compassion, and compassion is an evolved trait. Generally speaking society sets the norms for what is acceptable behavior and what is not. In most current cultures stealing, rape and murder are considered wrong. It hasn't always been that way though. In earlier cultures these things were sometimes acceptable although usually only outside of one's immediate social group.

There is a little more to it than do onto others as you would have them do onto you though. There is also altruism. Some of us have a genuine concern for the welfare of others. For example some people involved in animal rescue do it because saving the life of another species makes us feel good about ourselves. This too probably has its roots in compassion.

As far as only existing in the human brain goes I doubt it. Other species on this planet exhibit behaviors consistent with what most humans consider moral behavior. We have observed them taking care of the weak, risking their own lives for the sake of others and even morning their dead. We don't communicate with them well enough to know if any one of them understand the concept of morality, but my guess is the closer many of them are to us on the evolutionary tree the higher the probability that they do.