Saturday, August 09, 2008
Why do we feel that there is a standard for morality? A sense or right and a sense of wrong? If the universe was meaningless would we not know that the universe is in fact meaningless. Just like when I fall in the water I feel wet I know there is a contrast in my environment. Whereas a fish does not know they are wet as they swim through the water. The fact that this sense has been placed inside me means that there is in fact this standard.
posted by Joe at
2:31 PM
2 Comments:
I do think morality is wired into the human brain. That said, everyone has slightly different wiring (because of different genetics and different life experiences). That's why I hesitate to say that any moral standard is really a universally accepted, objective standard.
We see objects, hear sounds, smell things, etc. and so we're fairly certain that something exists outside of us that causes these sensations. On the other hand, we feel emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness, etc. which are put in motion by external events, but are clearly in our minds instead of in the outside world. I think that morality is based on emotional responses (disgust, joy, fulfillment, etc.) rather than on some universal, objective law.
Unlike scientific laws, moral standards are rough approximations. Every electron can be assumed to behave the same way, but every human is unique. Even science isn't really exact (most equations cannot be solved exactly, so the solution is approximated). How could we ever hope to have precise moral standards for something as imprecise as human beings?
That's enough... My comment is longer than your post. :)
Dave
Fair enough Davey, there are seemingly approximations in the universe. And maybe those approximations seem approximate because we're abstracted away at a level of perception that can't visualize that there is in fact some sort of absolute solution down to, say the quantum level. Why do we live in such rational functioning universe?
A universal standard in which all of us humans agree is that taking of each others life is morally wrong. In every culture and for all times this has not changed. What sets us apart from animals?
If the sensations you described are responses to stimuli and don't come from an innate human standard how do you explain a situation in which one human sees another human in danger. A primal response would be to save yourself and let the fittest survive. However wired into the human is that feeling to help that fellow human. Where does this conflict come from?
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