Where do morals come from?

This is something that we've been discussing a lot in my philosophy class, so I thought I'd ask it here.

Where do you think morals come from? Are they something that comes from religion/God, from society, from yourself, or born into you?

I believe that your morals are a mixture of what you learn from your society/culture and something that you come up with yourself. I don't believe in the thought that morals come from God, and I don't think that they're born into you because the difference between right and wrong is something that most children can't grasp at a young age and it must be taught to them.

Someone respond......

Good points, and I agree. In my eyes, a culture/society is the primary influence, often by way or family. Nurture I believe its called. We are not inherit built as moral creatures, we learn them to a large degree based upon the views and forces of family, state, sometimes Church, and very much Law. And they change, I mean, a moral noble in Medieval times believed it was morally right to burn witches and to fight non-Christians, as that is what the broad moral rules where of the day. These days new morals have replaced them based upon the different views of society.

However, some, such as the Ancient Greek Philosophers like Socrates, believed that we are basically good, and have inbuilt morals, which maybe can be right, after all, we know loyalty and killing is wrong.... to a degree. So yes, nurture over nature, we learn morals, we aren't born with them....

I believe morals are a byproduct of human interaction. In that way, anyone who lives in a society can learn morals without religion or god.

Originally posted by Silver Stardust
This is something that we've been discussing a lot in my philosophy class, so I thought I'd ask it here.

Where do you think morals come from? Are they something that comes from religion/God, from society, from yourself, or born into you?

I believe that your morals are a mixture of what you learn from your society/culture and something that you come up with yourself. I don't believe in the thought that morals come from God, and I don't think that they're born into you because the difference between right and wrong is something that most children can't grasp at a young age and it must be taught to them.

I have to agree on one level, that IMO morals don't stem from God, because I am not religious. But what about those who believe in the Christain faith? Moses? Wasn't it him who got the Ten Commandments?

(please excuse me if I have the details wrong)

But what about those who believe in the Christain faith? Moses? Wasn't it him who got the Ten Commandments?

Originally posted by finti
yes according to the bible it was Moses who got them, both jews and christians live by them

So when I said that those with certain faith believe that morals came from God I wasn't waaaay off?

Aesop!

So when I said that those with certain faith believe that morals came from God I wasn't waaaay off?

Originally posted by Linkalicious
Aesop!

Right back at ya rudeboy 😛

Originally posted by finti
depends on who ou ask 😉

Of course 😄

Originally posted by Syren
So when I said that those with certain faith believe that morals came from God I wasn't waaaay off?

Nope, there are a lot of people who believe that morals come from God, and they don't all follow the same religion.

I don't believe in that, though.

Some morals clearly come from humans... ones that don't work in a society like robbery, murder, or traitor speech against the leader.

Our morals come from our parents. People born to bad parents will usually become bad people. And the reverse is also true.

Sequence of events everything comes from everything.

From people that use their mind and not their instinct.

Originally posted by Ytaker
Some morals clearly come from humans... ones that don't work in a society like robbery, murder, or traitor speech against the leader.

I'd like to quote Finti here; "It depends who you speak to"......

Ten Commandments again? 'Thou shalt not steal', 'Thou shalt not kill' etc etc?

What about the negative connotation placed on polygamy by the Catholic Church? This was not handed down by God, it was a decree that originated from the church leadership at the time intending to increase the amount land inheritted by the church. It is now immoral to take part in polygamy, and while it did in fact come from a religious source, it was motivated by clearly human motives such as greed and the desire to build wealth.

mmmm....polygamy...

The basis of your morals are taught by:

1) Teachers
2) Parents
3) Muppets/various other educational and entertaining televisions
4) Adults in general.

You learn most of them, but shape them to how you feel a decent human being should act.

Originally posted by Syren
I'd like to quote Finti here; "It depends who you speak to"......

Ten Commandments again? 'Thou shalt not steal', 'Thou shalt not kill' etc etc?

Primitive societys also made some of those rules. It is unlikely that
a. Murdering somebody (e.g. killing without a valid reason, which isn't easy) like Abel, wasn't a happy act.
b. Stealing the fruit of truth from the tree, or stealing any leader's gold is not appreciated.
c. Calling your leader a stuck up prig just speaks for itself, doesn't it.

Murdering somebody (e.g. killing without a valid reason, which isn't easy) like Abel, wasn't a happy act.