Where does morality come from? To find that answer we can first examine where people once thought morality came from. We will look at the logic structures of both ancient and modern beliefs concerning morality and try to come to a conclusion. We will also try to figure out what morality is or at least make an attempt to describe the highest probability for what morality is composed of.
What is Morality?
Morality is the belief or recognition that certain behaviors are either “good” or “bad”. Some morals are very easy to accept and only the fringes of society might question or reject them. These people on the fringes may be good or bad, the mere act of rejecting a socially accepted moral of the time is in no way an indicator of the persons goodness.
Morality Context Examples
For example, few would promote murdering little children, there are however a few humans that would do this with no moral qualms. In this case most people consider this bad and evil. In another era slavery was accepted and helping slaves was “immoral” by societies standards, however helping slaves is now a good and moral act in our modern perception. A different example is jingoistic patriotism, it is often thought of as a good trait, but there are people that dare to question such blind faith.
Moral Overlap and Contradiction
Some morals are harder to accept because they contradict or overlap with other morals. These types of moral situations are at the heart of the greatest debates of our time. Let us take abortion for example, this is an extremely heated topic and you will find that the morality of women’s rights conflicts with babies rights. In cases like these there are usually logical and compelling arguments on both sides in extremes and major ethical and moral dilemas occur in the “gray areas”.
Where does Morality Come From?
Morality, God, and the Devil
Many human beings used to and still do believe that morality comes from a god. Some also believe that only good morals are from god and bad morals are from demons, devils, or a singular satan type character. There are some deeper logic structures causing problems with this type of belief. First there is the unfounded and unproved premises, in this case gods and devils. Apart from the unproven premises there is a a flaw in the logic of this belief…
If we get our morals from a god, are they moral because a god says they are or because a god is bound by them? If a thing is moral because a god says a thing is moral then this god could say that raping and killing a 2 year old child is moral and it would then be good. If god cannot say this then this god is bound by outside moral laws controlling the god, which asks the question then, where did these morals come from that control the god? If god told you to rape and murder babies would you? If you found out a god did not exist would you then rape and murder babies?
Unless one suffers from sever confirmation bias and self delusion it is clear by the logic above that morals are inherent in the human with a range of flexibility in application.
Animal Social Orders
From what I can best gather through my experience and sense data is that morality is a complex structure to maintain social cohesion and enhance survivability among social creatures. It is present in wolf packs and even among savage reptilian crocodiles. Really most anywhere you find social orders of animals you will find acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. For example it is unacceptable for a small crocodile to take food from a larger one, or it is unacceptable for a subordinate wolf to mate over the Alpha wolf. If these things happen then there will be consequences, the smaller crocodile or subordinate wolf will be physically attacked. As with humans if you steal something other humans will try to give you consequences.
My Stance on Morality
From the above discussions I think it is safe to assume that the moralities in human society are inherent and internal within us. What I mean is that the mechanism that creates morality is built into our genetics. Morals are subject to a wide range of applications and extremes and some societal moralities can be created from lies and false beliefs. They are subject to change and most are not absolute. What was once moral, for example slavery, is no longer moral today and thus we move on toward a more civil and moral human society.