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Topic: Do you believe in objective morality? (Read 380 times)

hero member
Activity: 1492
Merit: 763
Life is a taxable event
April 18, 2015, 04:46:55 PM
#5
I believe a lot of our morality comes from evolution.

A piranha will not try to kill all other piranha indiscriminately or piranha wouldn't exist.

Humans reproduce slowly. Killing another human means that more than a year of nurturing, years of being take care of and learning cease to exist, therefore humans don't usually indiscriminately kill, especially people of their own tribe.

Being overly trustful and non-assertive however lessens ones chances of reproducing due to people "gaming" the system, therefore a complicated part of a human is trying to come on top (or treated fairly) in interpersonal relationship.

A total asshole will not be tolerated by the tribe and will be sent away.





TLDR: Yes
jr. member
Activity: 38
Merit: 2
April 18, 2015, 03:51:49 PM
#4
No.

Applied (everyday life) moral can develop and exists without prior investigation on why something is good or bad. It just say do or don't. If I ask peoples for the opinion of gay sex, slapping own chilrens for teaching "good" behaviour, prostitution and drug use, many different incompatible morals pops up. When looking deeper in the history, I spot more extreme things like slavery being common and morally a good thing.

I don't even think that's possible to create flawless ethics just based on well-founded arguments.
legendary
Activity: 1188
Merit: 1016
April 18, 2015, 09:18:35 AM
#3
I'm not sure. Although I live my life following certain morals (mainly just treating everyone as I would like to be treated myself), I don't think they can ever be proven to be totally objective.

I mean, it's easy to say that killing/causing pain to another is inherently immoral. However, this can never be proven, as reality itself is subjective.

For example, what if someone has an extreme solipsistic viewpoint, and decides to kill the whole of the human race. I don't think they're necessarily being immoral, because they don't consider the human race to be real or alive in the same way that they themselves are.

For a less philosophical example, what if someone murders someone else, because they think that they are possessed by unexorcisable demons. The murderer may believe that he is helping the victim by putting them out of their misery, or he might even think that killing the person could prevent the demons escaping and causing more deaths later, or some such nonsense.

The point is, the murderers in these scenarios could be accused of being careless/stupid/narcissistic etc, but I don't think they are guilty of being immoral, as in their own minds they are doing nothing wrong.

hero member
Activity: 788
Merit: 1000
April 17, 2015, 06:57:42 PM
#2
The Non Aggression Principle. It is objective morality.
sr. member
Activity: 433
Merit: 250
April 17, 2015, 06:45:25 PM
#1
What are your thoughts and beliefs about morality, can there be an objective morality?
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