What Causes Morality?
March 8, 2008 Philosophy 2 CommentsBefore jumping into what might cause morality, I want to clarify what I mean by morality.
Morality is doing what benefits the people around you. Immorality is hurting others.
The three most commonly pointed at culprits when discussing why people behave morally are: society, religion and innate goodness.
1. Society: Many people believe that morality is taught. We are born amoral, and then learn morality through our parents, teachers, friends and by adhering to the law.
Evidence For: Examples of learning morals through a teacher, friend or parent.
Evidence Against: Society can encourage extreme cruelty, such as the attempted genocide of the Jewish race.
2. Religion: Another common belief is that people behave morally because of religion. This view can be based on the belief that religion is divinely inspired, or that religion is a tool resulting from either society or innate goodness.
Evidence For: Often teaches morality and encourages moral service.
Evidence Against: Responsible for holy wars and terrorism..
3. Innate Goodness: Some people think we are born with a desire to help other people, and with a sense of guilt about hurting other people.
Evidence For: Altruistic behavior that isn’t the result of being taught. There are people who are brought up in bad situations that end up good. A young child who cares for and protects his/her sibling.
Evidence Against: Violent behavior that that isn’t the result of being taught. There are people who are brought in good situations who end up bad. A young kid raised by moral parents that vandalizes and is violent.
It seems clear that all three of these play a role in morality. Which, if any, is the primary basis for morality? To test which one of these primarily causes morality, you would have to have an environment where only one of these causes has an influence.
Since it is near impossible to eliminate any of these factors, this leaves this topic very open to debate.
What’s your opinion?
