Morality:

[Babylon]

Originally Posted by Rant

Does morality exist? The terms right, and wrong, are products of a social construct. They are meant as guidelines to serve moral behavior. But, if created as a social device, does that not, then imply that morality is an inherently subjective matter? Without an objective standing for what one may deem moral, can morality exist at all?

Morality is objective. Morality doesn't exist in the sense that it's inherently in you to not steal from your corner store, but morality exists as a social construct that is greatly needed to keep society at bay from total and brutal anarchy. Our environment sets the standard for what morality is. In the days of Sparta it was completely moral to just leave your baby in the wilderness if it seemed weak. In the days of Judeo-Christian ethics it was perfectly moral to rape a girl as long as you paid her father 50 sheckles.

Good and evil, right and wrong, is all a matter of personal opinion dictated by the environment you were raised in. So the answer to your question I say that it does exist, just not in the way most perceive it such as a gift from god or a genetic trait.



If we were to raise a child in a controlled environment with no outside contact for lets say 20 years, and then release him into an abandoned town fully stocked with things inside of locked shops, I posit that he would most definitely break into whatever he wanted to get the food behind the glass and not feel bad about it at all. (Assuming we've taught this person what modern food in packaging looks like, of course.)

[Babylon]

Originally Posted by Rant

Does morality exist? The terms right, and wrong, are products of a social construct. They are meant as guidelines to serve moral behavior. But, if created as a social device, does that not, then imply that morality is an inherently subjective matter? Without an objective standing for what one may deem moral, can morality exist at all?

Morality is objective. Morality doesn't exist in the sense that it's inherently in you to not steal from your corner store, but morality exists as a social construct that is greatly needed to keep society at bay from total and brutal anarchy. Our environment sets the standard for what morality is. In the days of Sparta it was completely moral to just leave your baby in the wilderness if it seemed weak. In the days of Judeo-Christian ethics it was perfectly moral to rape a girl as long as you paid her father 50 sheckles.

Good and evil, right and wrong, is all a matter of personal opinion dictated by the environment you were raised in. So the answer to your question I say that it does exist, just not in the way most perceive it such as a gift from god or a genetic trait.



If we were to raise a child in a controlled environment with no outside contact for lets say 20 years, and then release him into an abandoned town fully stocked with things inside of locked shops, I posit that he would most definitely break into whatever he wanted to get the food behind the glass and not feel bad about it at all. (Assuming we've taught this person what modern food in packaging looks like, of course.)