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Morality

nPeace

Veteran Member
The choice is ours.
Do you mean the choice is ours to be moral or not? So morality is not the choice.
Which means you have not explained what morality is, but you don't think it is a natural tendency. Is that correct?
 

joe1776

Well-Known Member
Is morality a natural tendency towards one particular thing or other? Please explain.
Morality mostly deals with how we humans treat each other. To a lesser extent it deals with how we treat the other animals.

We humans have a conscience to guide us. This is a very simple process. If an action we are considering feels wrong, we shouldn't do it. These feelings of wrongness are intuitive and immediate. They emerge from the unconscious.

If conscience warns us that the action we are considering is wrong, and we do it anyway, we will be punished by guilt whenever we remember our failure.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Is morality a natural tendency towards one particular thing or other? Please explain.

I believe its learned. Each person and cultures morality is different depending on where they are from, their childhood, their personal experiences, and so forth. All children are born without morals. They'd most likely won't survival without being taught some sort of does/don'ts/and whys. Without that external knowledge, we'd be, well, just like every other animal. Have you noticed people start to get enlightened experiences and others wisdom as they get older?
 
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nPeace

Veteran Member
Nature is a broad brush to paint with.

Morality is learned. We learn to paint, and we learn what to paint.
So you don't think we are born with a national tendency toward any one particular thing, but we learn morality. Thanks.

Do you think morality is a fixed set of standard then, that we come to know about, as we gain experience and understanding, or do you think we decide from what we experience, what we consider to be moral?
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
Morality mostly deals with how we humans treat each other. To a lesser extent it deals with how we treat the other animals.

We humans have a conscience to guide us. This is a very simple process. If an action we are considering feels wrong, we shouldn't do it. These feelings of wrongness are intuitive and immediate. They emerge from the unconscious.

If conscience warns us that the action we are considering is wrong, and we do it anyway, we will be punished by guilt whenever we remember our failure.
Thanks.
What about how we treat ourselves? ;)
So is it reasonable to say, we have an internal guide to morality, and it is trained based on how we respond to that guide, so that we can actually reject or accept morality?
In that case, is morality fixed?
 

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
Do you mean the choice is ours to be moral or not? So morality is not the choice.
Which means you have not explained what morality is, but you don't think it is a natural tendency. Is that correct?

Morality is not hard to define or understand. A good example example is the parable the good Samaritan in the New Testament (Luke 10:25-37). A man is beaten up and left to die. Two men see the man dying and choose not to act. A third man, chooses to assist the dying man and does what is needed a facilitate his recovery. As humans we have an innate tendency towards being apathetic and selfish. We also have an innate tendency towards selfness and acting in the best interests of others. Two men made a choice to do nothing, a third to act. I would consider the third man who acted with compassion made a moral decision.
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
I believe its learned. Each person's and cultures morality is different depending on where they are from, their childhood, their personal experiences, and so forth. All children are born without morals. They'd most likely won't survival without being taught some sort of does/don'ts/and whys. Without that external knowledge, we'd be, well, just like every other animal. Have you noticed people start to get enlightened experiences and others wisdom as they get older?
Okay thanks.
So you don't believe morality is a natural tendency toward any one particular way, but you believe we learn morality based on where we are located, and what we experience.

So each culture has it's own morality, which it gained from an earlier culture, and so on.

Seems like a root structure.
If we travel back far enough to the main root, does morality exist there, or is there no morality?
So that when we start the growth, experience creates morality, and shapes cultures...

Is that how you see it?
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
Morality is not hard to define or understand. A good example example is the parable the good Samaritan in the New Testament (Luke 10:25-37). A man is beaten up and left to die. Two men see the man dying and choose not to act. A third man, chooses to assist the dying man and does what is needed a facilitate his recovery. As humans we have an innate tendency towards being apathetic and selfish. We also have an innate tendency towards selfness and acting in the best interests of others. Two men made a choice to do nothing, a third to act. I would consider the third man who acted with compassion made a moral decision.
Others would disagree.
What determines that helping the man is morally right?
 

joe1776

Well-Known Member
Thanks.
What about how we treat ourselves? ;)
So is it reasonable to say, we have an internal guide to morality, and it is trained based on how we respond to that guide, so that we can actually reject or accept morality?
In that case, is morality fixed?
I don't think conscience is concerned with how we treat ourselves.

Since it's emerges from the unconscious mind, the source of it's wisdom is a mystery. Since it seems to align with the survival of our species, it might be evolved instinct.

How we choose to act is a matter of intent. That's the province of our ego, that being we refer to as "I." We can accept or reject the guidance of conscience.

Is it fixed? I'm not sure what you're asking.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Is morality a natural tendency towards one particular thing or other? Please explain.
Morality is an attempt to regulate our instincts.
We have, like almost all social animals, an instinctive tendency to work together and be helpful to our tribe but we also have destructive or selfish instincts. Our ability to reflect on our behaviour enables us to live in bigger groups and be more productive when we can regulate our selfish instincts.
So it is a natural tendency in a broad sense, in the sense of living together productively. That doesn't mean that there is only one particular morality.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
Is morality a natural tendency towards one particular thing or other? Please explain.

Humans are a social species, so we do seem to have what you might call natural tendencies toward certain behaviors that benefit our group. Parents have a natural tendency to care about the well-being of their children for example. We have mirror neurons that enable us to empathize with others' feelings.

Obviously, the tendency is not absolute or completely universal, but it seems to be there in some measure for many of us.
 

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
Others would disagree.
What determines that helping the man is morally right?

What helps is a coherent worldview. One man may have a worldview that promotes helping others and doing the right thing. Another may have a worldview that values tribalism and shunning those who are different from others. For example a white nationalist may avoid helping someone based on race or nationality. One of the important values the good Samaritan parable promotes is morality transcends race, nationality and even religion. But sure.... some worldviews promote tribalism and will see one group or person as inherently better than another and less worthy.
 

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
So you don't think we are born with a national tendency toward any one particular thing, but we learn morality. Thanks.
Nope. No national tendencies.

:D

Do you think morality is a fixed set of standard then, that we come to know about, as we gain experience and understanding, or do you think we decide from what we experience, what we consider to be moral?
Indeed. Morality is a 'fixed set' when we learn it. We add to and delete from the base set as we learn.

We grow.
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
Wisdom is knowing what morality is correct and all the ones that do harm to self and others. Morality comes from experience and seeing for yourself what is true and what is not.

People need to realize who they are and what they are capable of in order to learn good morality. If they don't know their own freedoms and capabilities of being then they will be utterly lost and ignorant.

It takes serious consideration to learn the higher morals. Basic morality is simple stuff though.

People are completely responsible for their morality. Because we can choose to delight in wrong, or worse, or right and better.

There is the cause and effect of a right morality. And the heart that wills and delights in a right morality.

Many of the moralities people like are nothing but poison. The morality that produces true love is the best one and it can be a hard road to walk. But the best morality is not fair weather love. Rather it is the kind that produces the love that persists no matter what and is based on all the virtues. Without virtues there is no genuine love.

Sometimes it makes me wonder if God exists!
But I'm looking at reality and seeing nothing from a God. Why nothing from God if there is a God is my impediment to believing in God.

A higher power might exist though. Otherwise it's a happy miracle that such a wonderful morality exists.
 
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