Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Is that practising morality, or practising restraint for the sake of not shaming yourself by breaking social taboos?
Then you have a whole other level of restraint and discipline that has allowed men and women to survive gruesome situations throughout history. Reason has allowed for compromise, for progress.
Originally posted by Dolosmorality is the product of exercising primitive responses and instinctual reactions. though you'd be right to say that empathy, compassion and various forms of love evolved much later than baser self-preservation drives, it's easy to argue new forms of selfish behavior have likewise evolved after the emergence of pre-moral emotions in the primates lineage.
What I meant was that morality is mainly the result of conquering primitive responses and instinctual reactions and behaviors from day to day.Humans are infinitely more patient and compromising than our chimp ancestors. We have incredible control over our emotions. It has become a eugenic quality...to an extent.
Originally posted by 753
morality is the product of exercising primitive responses and instinctual reactions. though you'd be right to say that empathy, compassion and various forms of love evolved much later than baser self-preservation drives, it's easy to argue new forms of selfish behavior have likewise evolved after the emergence of pre-moral emotions in the primates lineage.
primate..., Well that explains why you sound like a monkey. lol
Maybe a better name for this thread would be 'What's the source of our instinct/choice to practice morality?' Which kind of brings up the question 'is morality an instinct, or a choice (are people inherently kind, or cruel)?' Anyway, I think there are a lot of reasons we bother following rules or having any affection for someone without an obvious advantage to ourselves:
1. Divine punishment/reward; like karma, or an afterlife. A higher power, a god of some sort affecting you, positively or negatively. Probably more of a choice than instinct in most cases.
2. Legal punishment. Nobody wants to risk being caught and experiencing that immediate, tangible discipline. Plus, a lot of crimes are dangerous in themselves, so a threat to both life and comfort. People who do commit crimes often think they can evade the law, or just don't consider it as a factor.
3. Punishment or reward from other people involved. Like if you suddenly punched someone in the jaw, they wouldn't be very friendly toward you afterwards. They might become dangerous. If you pay someone back the money you owe them, you will gain trust and have a better chance of being lent money again. When you are polite and build friendships, you have more of a social cushion.
4. Conservation of genes; i.e. oxytocin released in mother's brains when they have a newborn child, giving them a compulsive need to protect them and nurture them. That's just natural insurance that every species has as a system of survival. So the desire to love, help, and shelter relatives is pretty easy to explain.
5. ???
There are some things that don't seem to have any advantage to us, short term or long term. Say, for example, you saw an old lady you had never met before trying to move heavy crates, so you help her move a few (specifically if you were an atheist and didn't expect a reward from anyone, earthly or otherwise; and, yes, there are atheists who are very selfless people). There's no real benefit, you just get a warm, satisfied feeling (cheesy as that is). Or when you watch a gory movie and cringe when your favorite character gets mauled. When you pet an animal (that will never give you anything back but fairly simple affection) just to hear it purr. I don't know, maybe it's resonances from instincts to preserve our genetic makeup and comfort left over from an old compulsion to survive. Maybe people are good.
I can personally say that has not had any factor on my decision to do good or say what I believe right, contemplating the impact my actions has on others simply provides it's own reasoning for me, it seems to me that for the most part, we see doing right by others as a means to ensure our continued survival through a better co-operation, there is strength and support in numbers.
The way I see it this is logically the best choice when it is an option, if everybody comes out on top then it is surely better than one where the survivors are on top.
Humans think in logical and instinctually, with emotions and gut reactions.
An interesting thing is that insects have made instincts out of complex logical and mathematical problems, which require humans years to learn.
But in a way every animal has instincts like this only the equations for aerodynamics are replaced with the slightly different equations for swimming underwater. brains reason and think with numbers and patterns which we are just the concious that it uses to interpret reality. In a sort the mind we think we have is really the vassal of our subconscious which is just energy being shot around molecules.
And you know what? It's flip freaking fantastically wonderful. Life is surely it's own reward, if you pay attention dullness will never be on your mind.