| Soundwave said: Morality does not run contrary to our nature. It's a very powerful evolutionary platform actually. Human beings would not have survived as a species if they were constantly killing each other and not able to cooperate with each other. We are by no means the strongest or fastest or most vicious animal on the planet, we would've gotten our asses handed to us by other predators if we didn't have a strong compulsion to live in groups and work together. Humans are not a nomadic species. The person who violates the rules of the group (ie: killing others, being "immoral") would be a danger to the group. Our compulsion to be "good", at least to the degree that we can function and be accepted by our peer groups, is likely born out of a survival instinct. Sure you can be an "asshole" but if you got kicked out of the tribe/group for being so ... you would last how long in the wild on your own? This is where this instinct IMO comes from and its basically been evolved into our genome, that's why every culture in the world with a thousand different religions more or less have the same morality rules by and large. Having a strong compulsion to "obey" the rules of our peer group and not be a trouble to everyone else is not just about "being nice". It's very likely a product of our survival instinct and this predates any religious philosophy. |
And yet, today, we see greed and rampant exploitation of poor people on behalf of those in power all over the world. I think it is somewhat over-simplistic to say that we have evolved with a moral code in our genome and that morality is purely based on the natural mechanisms of this world. Yes, sometimes there are natural mechanisms in place to limit grave injustices but there also times when behaving immorally really does come without natural consequences (in fact, sometimes it gives people tremendous power). For example, I can think of no evolutionary reasons why a person shouldn't keep slaves or cheat or steal to get ahead in life: often times these types of people are never caught or brought to justice for their crimes. Nevertheless, these activities are still intrinsically wrong. This is the limitation of a purely materialistic view of morality: a final judgment gives context to actions that are intrinsically heinous but are allowed to exist due to injustices of this world.
