(December 25, 2016 at 2:56 am)scoobysnack Wrote:(December 25, 2016 at 2:45 am)Astreja Wrote: IMO, if you feel that you need a god to make you behave, you are stuck in a pre-moral developmental state. The god functions as a surrogate parent, punishing or rewarding; hence, behaviour is being driven by extrinsic factors (the approval or disapproval of the "parent"). Only when the motivation becomes internalized, driven by one's own desire to do good with no other reward or disincentive, can one be said to be a moral agent.
Interesting, and wondering if you could expand on that so I can understand it better.
Certainly. For starters, if one looks at childhood development in general, there's a gradual movement from dependence to independence. A very young child, when disciplined, reacts reflexively to a sharp "No!" or a physical intervention such as a spanking. The ability to understand right and wrong isn't there yet. A little bit later, the child starts to make a connection between his actions and any praise or punishment. Being praised by Mom or Dad makes him happy, so this is where you might see a proud "Look what I did!" kind of good behaviour or an attempt to hide or deny bad behaviour.
A bit later on, when the child has developed empathy and can see things from the point of view of someone else, imagining how they feel when something good or bad happens to them, the child is beginning to understand why something is good or bad, and why it matters. This is when morality shifts inward and becomes an intrinsic motivator (although perhaps still influenced by the opinions and actions of other people). Rather than something imposed from outside, it becomes a character trait rather than a reaction to outside pressures, and tends to shape how someone behaves when no one is looking.
