Every so often, one will hear of a Christian claiming that their morality comes from the bible and atheists will respond that their morality comes from within. I used to think that the morality of atheists in the west comes from the previous dominant Christian culture. I now think the origin of morality goes much deeper.
The only species that exhibit morality are homo sapiens. In this context, I can only conclude that we have a unique intellectual capacity. On the other hand we haven’t lost the basic animal instincts for individual survival to eat, procreate and rest with the best security we can accomplish. It could very well follow that our intellectual capacity allows us to expand our self interest within our society and improved security is our major thrust given that we can contemplate the future. Morality, a social construct, therefore is merely a tool to preserve the self interest of the members of society, and different moral codes of cultures and subcultures reflect the percieved self interest of the members within.
Thou shalt not steal. I you want to avoid losing some private property, its best to get everone on board and agree stealing is bad. To make this work let’s enlist a supreme power who can make the crops fail and everyone starves if we fail to abide by his ruling on theft. Of course the wealthy are most indignant with this transgression (and often modify this moral code with legal support) and the poor most likely to see no benefit. I’m reminded that many of the first white man’s interactions with the natives of the Pacific Island and the Americas report of the problem of theft. Of course these people were not civilized and thus not too big on private property.
Thou shalt not kill. Same thing applies with respect to stealing in the first paragraph. However for some of us its okay to execute violators of other morals, kill members of other societies that threaten us, kill in self defense, and kill the unborn to avoid social burden. Once again individal moral codes are modified by percieved self interest. With respect to the abortion item, I could point out that within the Christian realm, up to a century ago defective babies were often killed without contoversy. Convenient. Of course today with all the paperwork (birth certificate) and everything this practise is just too open and embarrassing.
What about Hitler’s Germany. Did Hitler have a moral code ? Certainly not the code you or I possess but I’m certain he thinks he worked for the right thing to do. Whether it was God or nature, he saw the German people worthy of the pre-eminent position in the world and that Jews and homosexuals were a threat to the perfect society.
bin laden as well. He’s managed to corrupt the Koran to believe that whatever is neccessary to achieve the dominance of “Islam” in the world is the right thing to do.
Please forgive my rather poor presentation. I just wanted to present the case that all morality is based on perceived self interest, not religion which is merely a tool, and that even altruism originates from self interest. There is no such thing as right or wrong. Man merely invented the concept.
Please understand that I do not intend to respond any further. My head hurts, but I am interested to hear what you all have to say.