Where Does Morality Come From?

I have been pondering this question for quite some time and I put it to every who will read this to contribute to my understanding of this particular topic. Where does morality come from?

 

Morality comes from one's society. It's simply peer pressure.

 

Morality is the manifestation of experience, nurturing, underlying altruism and individual life choices.

 

Consider the actions and behaviors of the Od Testament characters. Would you say that any of them were moral by your standards? I highly doubt it. Likewise they would all consider you to be highly immoral by their barbaric standards. If you follow your own society's standards you are considered to be moral, if you violate them you are considered to be immoral. Morality all depends on the specific time and place. What was once moral might become immoral within the next hour.

 

But if that's the case then Morality is subject and if Morality is subjective then should morality even exist at all, or should we toss it aside.

 

Morality simply helps you make it from hour to hour. It can and does change at any time. So comply or else you will become a criminal.

 

You define ethics vs. morality. Ethics are rules whereas morality is mentality.

 

Before going further I strongly suggest you define the terms"morality", "moral", "ethics", "good" and "evil" before continuing and seek consensus (or at least acknowledge and take into account differing definitions). The reason I make this suggestion is that I've seen many discussions on this topic in the past and, without consensus on what these words mean among the participants, the conversations devolve into silly semantic and rhetorical spats among other nonsense.

 

No one knows for sure although many claim to.

 

Certainly not been my experience. While social norms are a moral guide for many, it is not for all. I am a man with long hair who married a woman who never wears a bra which goes against the social norm. My moral code is based upon something much deeper than subjective public opinion, it is based pin the belief that the boundary that separates action from immoral action is harm. I am not saying that all harm is bad, but as a general rule it is. Does long hair on a man or a woman going braless in and of itself cause harm to others? I argue no thus my rejection of those social norms.

Peer pressure is most effective on the sheeple yet is all but useless when used against free thinkers.

 

A simple observation of humanity shows that morality is subjective. Just because it is subjective does not mean that it does not exist or should be tossed aside. I come to the conclusion that my moral code is objective to me, yet once I tell another my moral code it becomes subjective as my moral code is not the bar set for all humanity to be measure against.

For the most part Americans agree on the big points of morality such as murder, rape, theft, slander, etc. This is not to say that what constitutes the aforementioned harms are not open to interpretation.

If you are seeking a firm moral code then do what I did which is research and come to find your own moral code, or you can acquiesce to the moral code of another and make theirs yours.

 

So you argue that all morality is based upon criminal law?

 

I have always seen ethics as organizational level and morality as individual.

 

Morality is simply the need for the organism to propagate it's genetic material.

 

Plato and Aristotle spend considerable time on this in their writings.

That's where it comes from, historically speaking.

Don't ask me for a citation or link however.

I just recall this from my studies of Philosophy.

 

Asking for morality to be defined is an act of semantics. What is wrong with semantics? Which dictionary do we use when defining a word when they do not all define a word in exactly the same way?

 

First, you need to get an avatar @The Wyrd of Gawd .

Secondly, I agree with you on this.

If @MDG045 was truly asking "from whence does morality emanate" then the answer is clearly "from the social expectations of society" which essentially is peer pressure as you said, or at least a form of it.

 

Well Moses was not happy with the people in the Old Testament (Tenakh in Hebrew) and neither were many of their prophets nor Jesus either. Ultimately their God YHVH abandoned them and let the Romans destroy their temple and Jerusalem, as history records. So maybe you are right.

 

society decides what is moral and immoral

 

Well in the first place, Plato said that the unexamined like is not worth living.

And for Plato morality was doing what was best out of all possible options when a choice must be made.

So this does indeed suggest that morality is subjective not objective.

But morality still certainly does exist.

Because if it did not exist then life would not be worth living and you would arrive at a contradiction.

Live is certainly worth living, and therefore morality is certainly worth attaining.

Indirect proof.

Q.E.D.

 

Ethics is a branch of Philosophy and morality is a way of living such that you have applied ethics and Philosophy to your life.

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2010-05-psychologists-babies-wrong-months.html

For most, from within. The need to love, be loved, feel a part of something bigger.

 

I would hate to think "morality" comes from the Bible.

as its a pretty violent, hateful, vengeful book

 

You don't think we are each capable of deciding for ourselves ???

 

How do you explain those like me who reject social norms that go against my moral code which is independent of the opinion of humanity?