Final-Fan said:
@ Slimebeast:
"Your examples of social communities (like apes) that work well together for the best of their survival though social interactions, have their behaviour and rules based purely on instincts.
"But the rules and behaviour in human societies are not only based on instincts. They are also based on morals, which requires intellectual thinking and decisions and is something entirely different than genetically programmed instincts."
I would argue that you are massively underestimating the intelligence of apes to say that they are governed completely by instincts utterly beyond their control, rather than behaving according to social norms which are malleable by individual learning.
@ Smidlee:
"As one scientist warn before be careful impling morals to animals especially those that have been influenced by man. There is no doubt we, humans, can change animal behaviour including leaning toward our morals (good or bad)."
I'm assuming this was in reference to ManusJustus' post which inclueded the truly excellent video of monkey business: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAFQ5kUHPkY
Apparently, then, you are ready to concede (unlike Slimebeast) that animals are capable of learning morals? Obviously you say they can pick them up from humans one way or another. Well, in that case, why is it so impossible that humans came up with morals themselves? Or hell, inherited them or picked them up from earlier Homo species?
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Our control over animals has to do with food since that all they understand. Yet a poor person who just found a wallet of a wealthly person with $5000 in it will either keep the money or return it.
As in this video if someone was to give you something for free wouldn't the moral thing to do is to be thankful (say "Thank you") even though may have gave another person something better?
