You Can't Legislate Morality

[Dunemeister]

Originally Posted by Father Heathen

So you really believe the government shapes our lifestyle and culture?

It plays its role along with many other forces. My only point is that the government passes laws that proscribe and reward various behaviors. In so doing, they are legislating morality. And yes, there's an extent to which the law helps us form our culture. The US Constitution, for example, is both a cause and an effect of American culture and moral value.

[UltraViolet]

Originally Posted by Father Heathen

So you really believe the government shapes our lifestyle and culture?

Along with media,(image making)
Corporate design (from clothing to home decor)
Church (behavior "control")
and technology (every child must have a cell phone to text message)
I do believe that is so for a great segment of the populous.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by Dunemeister

How is this not legislating morality? A society has a particular view of what the good and responsible life consists in and enacts laws that aid and abet that view. Thus morality is legislated.

Dunemeister, if it were my moral instinct that cutting your legs off was a good thing (because obviously other people having legs is evil) there is nothing you could do to change my morals.
Sure, you could punish me according to your own morality, since you would share that moral persuasion with the majority, but putting me in prison wouldn't alter my sense of morality, I would still think cutting your legs off was a good thing.
And sure, I probably wouldn't cut anybody else's legs off because I wouldn't want to go back to prison, but negative reinforcement of behaviour is not the same thing as legislating morality.

[Dunemeister]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Dunemeister, if it were my moral instinct that cutting your legs off was a good thing (because obviously other people having legs is evil) there is nothing you could do to change my morals.
Sure, you could punish me according to your own morality, since you would share that moral persuasion with the majority, but putting me in prison wouldn't alter my sense of morality, I would still think cutting your legs off was a good thing.
And sure, I probably wouldn't cut anybody else's legs off because I wouldn't want to go back to prison, but negative reinforcement of behaviour is not the same thing as legislating morality.

I think we're differing on the meaning of "legislate morality." If "legislate" means "change my mind about" then of course you're probably right in most cases. But that's not what the phrase seems (to me) to mean. I'm taking "legislate" to mean "make laws concerning." Thus it seems to me obvious that legislatures legislate morality all the time. So perhaps we don't actually disagree; perhaps we're just talking past each other.