A short essay on morality

[draque]

This is something that's been bouncing around the inside of my head for a while which I've been meaning to post. Constructive criticism welcome from anyone who takes the time to read. ^^

Comments

[sssage]

I completely agree that morality (right and wrong) is defined by the culture. Murder is usually considered a wrong thing, even in the US. However some murders are justified such as a cop killing a criminal in certain circumstances, a soldier murdering an enemy, the public murdering a criminal for a captial offence. Most western societies see canibalism as wrong. In other cultures, such as the Yanomano in brazil and many others in the middle east canibalism is an accepted practice. But what must be remembered people who are canibalized are never killed with the intention of nourishment such as a meal. The yanomano eat the ashes of their dead relatives mixed into a drink so that the souls of the ancestors do not haunt the world. Certain other cultures eat parts of their enemies to capture a certain essance or power from the dead person

[draque]

"However I will disagree that morality is the will of an individual on those around them. Again a culture defines right and wrong."

I see what you're getting at here, but what is culture other than the combined will of many individuals?

"But interestingly isolated cultures such as mormon and christian fundementalist and cults can escape the views of an overall culture because the opinions of their leaders define a new sence of right and wrong"

I would argue that their cultures (even Scientology culture) are no different than any others. They might be based on perceptions of the universe that are... incongruent with reality, but the morality they prescribe is no more arbitrary than the morality prescribed in the surrounding cultures.

"So to sum up my return rant it's much more than individuals who define right and wrong, individuals who don't fit the perceived mold of a culture are quickly squashed by the dominant views. We all have seen this in schools where the odd/nerd/quiet person gets picked on to encourage mediocraty of the

[sssage]

yes nox saw me at MFF. It actually was my first con. I would like to go to ACEN, but I fear I may have to head to St louis for a bridesmaid dress fitting... If I do, you boys will be the first to know.

[cbwolf]

While I am a theist, with a strong sense of morality, those are all good points, and I largely agree with them. I have never, even as a small child, been comfortable with the idea of my theology dictating my morality. The will of any being, supreme or otherwise, has never seemed to be a good basis for moral precepts. I have often mused (although I know, in reality, I am not this actually this selfless) that if there were a Hell of infinite suffering and damnation, I would demand to be sent to it out of protest. There is no finite earth sin that could possibly justify an infinity of punishment in my mind

[draque]

I suppose I have a problem with reading in between the lines to the the will of any creator (even if one does exist) simply because the "morality" that it prescribed would simply be the imposition of its will, and it would have no way to know if there was or was not some greater power or creator that was imposing his own version of moral code. The possibility of infinite regress is one of the harder things to deal with when establishing any sort of universal value for an abstract concept.

Also I'm curious... I don't remember you calling that, how long ago was it you guessed?

[bear_helms]

I am not comfortable with evil being classified as a purely moral term, but if that is so, then we must turn back to the rule of law and see that still there are distinctions that separate Hitler from Ghandi. Hitler's genocide was heinous and tried as an offense against the world. Ghandi had no Nuremberg trial. Similarly, Dahmer committed crimes that were punishable

[draque]

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed the essay ^^. This is one that I wrote a few years ago, though. There's a much more complete essay that I've written and am much more happy with (that also addresses the points you bring up regarding the Hitler/Gandhi issue, the role of society in creating a governing rule of ethical conduct, etc) here. It's a locked entry, but I've friended you, so you should be able to see it now. If you want to discuss it further, please feel free to IM me at my AIM: DraqueDragon.