It's a question I've always pondered over. Moral code is a very puzzling thing. It has changed constantly throughout time, is different for every person, every culture, every nation etc.
Since the birth of man, religion has existed in some form. Over time religious beliefs became more abstract and complex, with more depth and meaning behind the philosophies. It wasn't a long period of time between bowing before fire and worshipping an omnipotent, omnipresent Deity that judges us all. Nowadays, religion still plays a huge factor in the lives of most people, from the small tribal deities to the Abrahamic God. For these people, moral codes exist, and they exist because a greater, divine power told them so. The deity tells them what is right and what his wrong, it tells them what the correct and incorrect paths are. Due to these beliefs, these people having a sense of morality is entirely justified, because the creator of their world told them so, so who are they to argue otherwise? For a religious person to believe in morality makes absolute sense.
For an atheist, however, is it really rational to believe that morality is some sort of actual rule? Or rather not an atheist, but perhaps those who have literally no belief in the spiritual, for those who believe that life is just a random sequence of chemical reactions, and that when you die your life is over. Think about it, if you believe there is no higher order, that you are just part of the universe's chaotic nature, that life has no purpose or meaning, what place does morality have for you? Without a higher power telling you what is right or wrong, can you really say the concept even exists? It's very easy to argue that without any sort of higher power or sense of spirituality, good and evil are just manmade concepts used for control. I've heard some argue that "morality is a necessary and true part of society, what else can you attribute all this progress to?" Again one could go on to say that the concept of social progress in itself is largely arbritrary, and the scientific and technological progress are the only real quantifiable measure of progress. It is also very easy to put forth the argument that moral norms of society that permit murder, ****, theft, and other such things were not originally coined as evil because there is such thing as evil, but because for a larger society to grow and flourish with stability, such things must be prohibited. For murder specifically, it can be said that this concept in itself is due to a species wanting to ensure its own success as a whole, I know there are many exceptions but this is a general rule of thumb. So back to morality, considering its different interpretations across the world, and the changes to its nature over the ages, can it really be deemed something that is actually some sort of real law, or is it just something that humans coined to keep order? Is it really so outlandish to believe that morality has no place for someone with no spiritual beliefs? If so, and if one believes morality is made up, what keeps them from doing as they please?
One can easily answer the above question by replacing morality with practicality. As stated before, in a large society that relies on order, thing considered crimes are crimes because they cause disruption and chaos. Most drugs aren't illegal because of they're grow by Satan, they're illegal because their nature can disrupt functionality of society members. Think about ****. If there were free reign for a man to just jump a woman as she walked down the street and **** her on her way to work, that would screw productivity up pretty badly. Large society needs order to function smoothly, somewhat like this forum has rules and regulations to function in a way that it wants to. We enforce rules like multiposting restrictions, soam, trolling, flaming. While none of this is in itself really a big deal when you get to the core of it, it's disruptive to this site, and thus is outlawed, the same could be applied to moral code.
Again, all of this could be completely argued against, since although there isn't really conclusive scientific fact on this subject (due to the complexity of the brain), some could take up the argument that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature, and not something we coined. Perhaps the general instincts of complex organisms combined with the more complex nature of our brains makes us interpret our instincts in a more abstract way. Also judging from the altruistic things other animals have been seen doing, perhaps morality has a greater place in the scheme of things than some give it credit for?
One could argue many points, but I pose this question to you again, without higher powers or a sense of spiritual order, can one really justify the existence of morality, good, and evil as a genuinely true system?
Since the birth of man, religion has existed in some form. Over time religious beliefs became more abstract and complex, with more depth and meaning behind the philosophies. It wasn't a long period of time between bowing before fire and worshipping an omnipotent, omnipresent Deity that judges us all. Nowadays, religion still plays a huge factor in the lives of most people, from the small tribal deities to the Abrahamic God. For these people, moral codes exist, and they exist because a greater, divine power told them so. The deity tells them what is right and what his wrong, it tells them what the correct and incorrect paths are. Due to these beliefs, these people having a sense of morality is entirely justified, because the creator of their world told them so, so who are they to argue otherwise? For a religious person to believe in morality makes absolute sense.
For an atheist, however, is it really rational to believe that morality is some sort of actual rule? Or rather not an atheist, but perhaps those who have literally no belief in the spiritual, for those who believe that life is just a random sequence of chemical reactions, and that when you die your life is over. Think about it, if you believe there is no higher order, that you are just part of the universe's chaotic nature, that life has no purpose or meaning, what place does morality have for you? Without a higher power telling you what is right or wrong, can you really say the concept even exists? It's very easy to argue that without any sort of higher power or sense of spirituality, good and evil are just manmade concepts used for control. I've heard some argue that "morality is a necessary and true part of society, what else can you attribute all this progress to?" Again one could go on to say that the concept of social progress in itself is largely arbritrary, and the scientific and technological progress are the only real quantifiable measure of progress. It is also very easy to put forth the argument that moral norms of society that permit murder, ****, theft, and other such things were not originally coined as evil because there is such thing as evil, but because for a larger society to grow and flourish with stability, such things must be prohibited. For murder specifically, it can be said that this concept in itself is due to a species wanting to ensure its own success as a whole, I know there are many exceptions but this is a general rule of thumb. So back to morality, considering its different interpretations across the world, and the changes to its nature over the ages, can it really be deemed something that is actually some sort of real law, or is it just something that humans coined to keep order? Is it really so outlandish to believe that morality has no place for someone with no spiritual beliefs? If so, and if one believes morality is made up, what keeps them from doing as they please?
One can easily answer the above question by replacing morality with practicality. As stated before, in a large society that relies on order, thing considered crimes are crimes because they cause disruption and chaos. Most drugs aren't illegal because of they're grow by Satan, they're illegal because their nature can disrupt functionality of society members. Think about ****. If there were free reign for a man to just jump a woman as she walked down the street and **** her on her way to work, that would screw productivity up pretty badly. Large society needs order to function smoothly, somewhat like this forum has rules and regulations to function in a way that it wants to. We enforce rules like multiposting restrictions, soam, trolling, flaming. While none of this is in itself really a big deal when you get to the core of it, it's disruptive to this site, and thus is outlawed, the same could be applied to moral code.
Again, all of this could be completely argued against, since although there isn't really conclusive scientific fact on this subject (due to the complexity of the brain), some could take up the argument that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature, and not something we coined. Perhaps the general instincts of complex organisms combined with the more complex nature of our brains makes us interpret our instincts in a more abstract way. Also judging from the altruistic things other animals have been seen doing, perhaps morality has a greater place in the scheme of things than some give it credit for?
One could argue many points, but I pose this question to you again, without higher powers or a sense of spiritual order, can one really justify the existence of morality, good, and evil as a genuinely true system?
