Sure, there are rudimentary moral systems in pre-literate societies...
I think that if you looked at them, you would find them a good deal less rudimentary than you suppose. You would also find that they deal with exactly the same issues, conflicts, and situations that our basic moral codes do today. You would also find that these issues, conflicts and codes all have a great deal to do with maintaining peace and harmony within social groups. If one observes that moral codes around the world, among the civilized and the preliterate alike, deal with the maintenance of harmony within social groups, is it not logical to speculate that these codes emerged from a common need to maintain harmony within social groups?
it does not take much social development before proper behavior includes eating with utensils, shaving, bathing on a regular basis (or using cologne), building substantial housing, celebrating the deeds of the great, and so on. All of these things fit with the idea of enhancing human dignity beyond strict utility...
Have you any idea how long humans had been trotting round on the face of the earth before any of those customs emerged?
I think this is a fundamental area of deviation in our argument. I simply don't believe that you are giving sufficient consideration to the role that our prehistory - which is far, far, longer than our history - has in shaping our basic moral outlook. For 98% of our past (probably more), survival was a very real issue; in most cass the only real issue. Maintaining harmony inside a group and finding better ways to do things were absolute imperatives that could not be avoided. Wanting "more" for your children meant more food, better shelter, a better chance at survival. These imperatives must have been drilled into us over and over again - how could they have not been?
Of course, in the last few thousand years, a miniscule fraction of the time we have existed as a race, the successful pursuit of these imperatives have lifted some of us to a level where we no longer had to concern ourselves with the bare mechanics of survival, and in these cases those basic drives have turned to other ends.
I'm not presenting this as gospel truth, but until someone presents a coherent explanation that is as logical and as probable, it's the one I'm going to believe. |
