Origin of morality

[Mermaid]

From where do moral absolutes originate?

I'll try and summarize what I heard in a debate..

No god means no sin, no good, and no evil

For there to be evil, one must assume there is good.  If there is good, one must assume there is moral law. If there is moral law, then there must be a moral law giver...

So, where does morality originate?

Morality is grounded in the character and nature of God, the creator, Himself.

So if you do not believe God exists, you cannot be moral?

[Simon Moon]

From where do moral absolutes originate?

I'll try and summarize what I heard in a debate..

No god means no sin, no good, and no evil

For there to be evil, one must assume there is good.  If there is good, one must assume there is moral law. If there is moral law, then there must be a moral law giver...

So, where does morality originate?

Morality is about the well being and the flourishing of conscious beings.  

We all inhabit the same physical universe and are subject to the same physical laws. We all know what contributes to our own well being and ability to flourish given those physical laws, so it is easy to figure out what others would want too.

For example: living is better than dying, health is better than illness or injury, freedom is better than slavery, etc. Since the vast majority of us know we want these for ourselves and our loved ones, we can understand that others want the same for themselves.

For most of human history, we have been evolving societies that have been heading in the direction of providing more well being for more people than in the past.

Please note that it is no longer thought, by the vast majority of people in modern societies, to be moral to: own slaves, stone unruly children, stone women that are not virgins on their wedding night or force a women to marry her rapist. We did not come to these conclusions from the edict of a moral law giver, but by evaluating these using rational thought.

[Smartmarzipan]

From where do moral absolutes originate?

I'll try and summarize what I heard in a debate..

No god means no sin, no good, and no evil

For there to be evil, one must assume there is good.  If there is good, one must assume there is moral law. If there is moral law, then there must be a moral law giver...

So, where does morality originate?

Morality is grounded in the character and nature of God, the creator, Himself.

Prove it.

I'll wait.

[CharlesDarwin]

Sam Harris is very good at explaining this whole concept. I strongly recomend watching this debate. Though once in a while you might want to smash your screen when Craig is talking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg7p1BjP2dA

[PopeyesPappy]

Prove it.

I'll wait.

lol

No plans for a while, Smartzi?



Like for the rest of your life...

[the_antithesis]

oh shit. Not again.

[the_antithesis]

Morality is grounded in the character and nature of God, the creator, Himself.

So it's moral to cut open pregnant women and to smash small children's heads against rocks.

[PopeyesPappy]

So it's moral to cut open pregnant women and to smash small children's heads against rocks.

Why sure Anti. After all, he who made kittens put snakes in the grass.

[the_antithesis]

He's the lover of life but the player of pawns.

[PopeyesPappy]

Exactly!  

[St Giordano Bruno]

Could it be just our emotions that trigger our moral reactions to a situation like a physically strong adult sexually assaulting a much weaker and more vulnerable child. Such as those cases of paedophile priests which really get my hackles up big time.

[Maelstrom]

So, where does morality originate?

According to the sound concept derived from anthropology, morality originated and evolved from primitive man's need for clan survival.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

He ain't coming back. Typical cowardice.

[Bobbotov]

Since there is no God the question about where does morality come from is simple. From the same place that the religions and their Gods come from: people. The fact that this is debatable shows how pathetic the understanding of the human condition is by Theists. Religious people deny their humanity as soon as the invent a God. This in itself should be considered a crime against humanity. We are not puppets. We are not toys to suffer the whims of some imaginary creator. To paraphrase an advertisement for Las Vegas; "what happens on Earth stays on Earth."

Existentially, to disavow the responsibility for morality and relegate it to some manufactured God is reprehensible. We cannot pass the buck to anything else. How we conduct ourselves and interact in society is completely within our responsibility. Humans desire fairness. Many animals do as well. It is a trait of virtually all social creatures. My dogs desire fairness. We all eschew being mistreated. We all have instincts for staying alive. These things are fundamental and morality is just a means to preserve those fundamentals so we can all co-exist.

If you view human actions from a psychological point of view then it can be said that the historical creation of a God(s) was to self-impose morality on ourselves. The actual morality imposed by a fictitious God was really invented by humans and cloaked to trick ourselves into thinking that the  dictates came from something greater than ourselves. This is such nonsense and is delusional. It must come to end and the burden must be shifted back to where it belongs. To ourselves.

[Plu]

Yup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipse_dixit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_assertion

Nope

You shouldn't link to things that don't make your point. I answered a question.  I didn't offer an argument, and my answer wasn't intended as an argument.

An answer without an argument is a waste of bytes and time. There are infinite answers to each question and all of them are equally useless without arguments for why they are the correct answer, which is the only thing anyone ever cares for.

If you can't give an argument for why your answer it worth considering, you might as well not give it, because it's useless.