Origins of Morality

Amerikanse

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What is morality and where did it originate?

No flaming allowed, serious discussion only. Treat others and their opinions with respect.
 

Xarog

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No he hasn't, just give it time. :)

Besides, looking for definitions of morality doesn't explain why the various forum members have chosen one possibility over others - there's still lots to discuss. :D

For my part I think morality is something that's part of every person - no one invented it as such, it's just something that was recognised as people started listening to their compassionate side and broadened the groups of things that they applied it to.
 

Syndyre

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I think it probably originated as a basic way of doing things in primitive societies, to ensure their functioning and overall wellbeing and then developed from there.
 

supersunbird

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Unmoral early hominid tribes died out more frequently due to the "bad behaviours*, thus through evolutionary pressures, a general set of morality developed...
 

rwenzori

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Unmoral early hominid tribes died out more frequently due to the "bad behaviours*, thus through evolutionary pressures, a general set of morality developed...


That's probably the best explanation I have heard - what we are is the result of evolutionary pressures on virtually all counts.
 

d0b33

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Unmoral early hominid tribes died out more frequently due to the "bad behaviours*, thus through evolutionary pressures, a general set of morality developed...

and according to science our Morality exists in our prefrontal cortex
 

stoke

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From Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex

The classic case of earlier studies of prefrontal cortex function involved a railroad supervisor of construction—one Phineas Gage—who in 1848, despite a metal rod piercing his left cheek and exiting the top of his head, survived the incident and healed. After the event he had normal memory and abilities to walk and talk, but because of the prefrontal injury could no longer behave correctly, often getting into fights or acting shockingly. The remainder of his life was a tragedy of knowing what was right and wrong, but never choosing the right and instead always picking what sounded pleasurable and easy.

Basically .. this dude without that part of the brain behaved without morals.
 

Claymore

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I think a lot has to do with socialisation, and the Golden Rule: do unto others what you will have them do to you. Without any form of society, you have no need of morals. With society, certain "bad" behaviours against other people can cause them to act the same against you too. So the safest solution is to stick to behaviours that you don't mind your neighbours abiding by too.

There's a chapter on the subject in The God Delusion.
 

kilo39

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Unmoral early hominid tribes died out more frequently due to the "bad behaviours*, thus through evolutionary pressures, a general set of morality developed...
Interesting!

My thought: 'clever' people thought about it and realised harm to another = harm to oneself (through the deduction: what goes around comes around.) And so Astronomy was born! :D
 

qewrty

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The brain's file system for morale is interesting (especially if you are a backyard nero surgeon) but it doesn't explain the origins nor does it cover the parts of the topic that Amerikanse asks about.

What I read is that some of you subscribe to a group selection theory - that the survival of the group meant they had to become moral. This might be true to a certain extent, but I believe Richard Dawkins more when he says that it could also have been on an individual basis. A person who practiced good morales probably found it easier to build alliances and benefit from co-operation to the extent that his survival benefited.

To a certain degree morality has to do with conflict management. It dictates how we deal with conflicts of our believes between each other. Some people will see you as a lower being for having different believes or viewpoints simply because they think they are as inerrant as their scriptures.

All in all morality is a positive by product of the development of our intellect and subsequent development of social structure.

As for who or why we have certain morales, they are a reflection of our world view. For many people religion and morales are one and the same thing, for these individuals it usually turns out pretty bad. Most religions tend to have a deterministic strict outlook on morales, you should do X and not Y to expect Z - no exceptions or negotiations. Morality based purely on religion is stagnate and ignores the simple fact that life today is different than what it was two thousand years ago.

Morality, like the rest of our software has to be constantly re-evaluated against the face of a changing world.
 

Leitmotif

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What sprung to my mind is "is there a substantial difference between morality and shame?

Koos

Yes there is. Morality at it's best is a guide, not a punisher. It shows what behaviours will help you live the sort of life you want.

I'm a fan of the 'Morality as a means of getting proto-people to cooperate' shared-society origin. Evolving as a group meant that certain behaviours had to be followed or the group would suffer.

However, in the modern day I believe morality is a set of choices. The only thing that should be common about morality would be to first consider the effect on others. Thus rape and theft are wrong, because they adversely affect others, but having intercourse with a dead goat is not neccessarily morally wrong.
 

chiskop

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Thus rape and theft are wrong, because they adversely affect others, but having intercourse with a dead goat is not neccessarily morally wrong.

Now you've definitely killed the thread. :D

Paging Dr. alanf85, paging Dr. alanf85.
 

mancombseepgood

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"The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys..."

--CS Lewis
 
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