Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
Much of what we consider 'morality' is hard-wired into us through evolution and is about group well-being as much as personal survival.
|
I think this latter is an important point. Morality is, indeed, for the collective of mankind. It's a social thing, in essence attempting to ensure that we all just... get along.
But I'm not sure about the hard-wired part. If by that you mean that morality is innate, then I don't know if I would agree. I think our morality has a lot to do with external factors. Education, upbringing, environment, society, Mother Goose fairy tales, etc. We're not taught to scream and cry as infants, but we do. That's hard-wired into us. But if we have to be
taught morals and ethics, then clearly, it must not be something we're born with.
It's something we acquire. Forget about the time-frame. One week or one century. If one takes away the above sources, would we still have morality? Or would we go around pillaging and plundering?