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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (77995)	4/13/2000 11:24:00 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 108807

I believe that morality is innate. It's not an uncommon belief, I just did a quick net search and among those who believed morality is innate are John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, and Thomas Jefferson. It was a central tenet of the Enlightenment. It's a strong belief among many Christians, that God made us with an innate sense of right and wrong. It's also true that selfish desires that have no regard for the rights of others are also innate. I think those desires emanate from the limbic system, and think the innate sense of morality is found in the neocortex. In children, the neocortex is less developed, it becomes more developed over time. When the neocortex is damaged, or defective, people are more likely to give in to their lower impulses. I think moral education is certainly beneficial, but you can teach people to do almost anything - eat cows, not eat cows, eat pigs, not eat pigs, not kill anything at all, eat fish on Friday, bow to Mecca, not work on Saturday, on and on and on. Is that morality? Whereas, I think most of us would instinctively shy away from murder, rape, armed robbery, arson, and so on. Soldiers have to be taught to kill, and most do so unwillingly.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (77995)	4/13/2000 1:57:00 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Great. Now that you two have come to terms and seem to be in agreement, I feel bound to respectfully disagree. I hate it when things become unanimous. Morals are innate. At least the ability to confirm right from wrong, when you see it in the world, is an innate element in human make up. So when you see some scripture or a wise statement or good behavior in the world and it seems to ring true for you, where does that come from? It comes from the same place that it came from for Huckleberry Finn. The religious teachings of the widder Jenkins, who he had great respect and gratitude for, told him he was betraying her, stealing, and ultimately committing a sin to help Jim go North. In fact, in nearly every issue he struggled with in Mark Twain's story, he went against society, his moral upbringing, loyalty to his group and even his father. Being absolutely sure he would end up in Hell for his decision, he helped Jim anyway, because he was a friend and it just "seemed" like the right thing to do. Besides ole Tom Sawyer wouldn't be in heaven and how could that be any fun. It's there guys for all human beings to tap into or not.