RE: Is There a Point To Living a Moral Life?
October 18, 2013 at 2:21 am
(This post was last modified: October 18, 2013 at 2:25 am by genkaus.)
(October 17, 2013 at 2:51 am)max-greece Wrote: Why are people ethical/moral?
In the main - simply because it feels good to be so. That's good as in heart warming, not as in all superior and proud as the religious might want to portray it.
I din't really have to address the big issues - rape, murder etc.- I would hope those are obvious to all. Those are just innately wrong - against programming - evolutionarily disadvantageous - call it what you will.
You are right about the effect, but not the cause. Acting in accordance with your personal moral values gives you a sense of satisfaction and self-esteem - whatever those moral values may be. Once a person has chosen his moral code, he can expect his conscience, through the feeling of guilt or pride, to indicate if he is being true to it. Therefore, how the moral code is chosen is often more important than whether you follow it.
Your moral code is not innate or biologically programmed. Either you choose it through careful consideration or it is chosen for you - by the society you live in, by the environment you were raised in or by the company you keep.
For example, whether or not you empathize with something depends on how well you identify with it. Some people, who regard all living things as having a soul or being sentient would consider cutting down a tree as morally wrong. While others dehumanize their enemies to make killing them much easier.
(October 17, 2013 at 7:36 am)Sword of Christ Wrote: If God doesn't exist then what else do you think morality is other than a mutually agreed upon social contract?
A conceptual standard to guide your actions which, unlike a social contract, doesn't require a society to exist.
(October 17, 2013 at 7:36 am)Sword of Christ Wrote: We certainly do yes. Why do you think we have that?
Because our emotions are not divorced from our convictions.