The biology of "morality"

[hug]

I am requesting the attention and participation of biologists, evolutionary biologists, evolutionary psychologists, neuroscientists, and anyone else here in a poll and (then) discussion about the nature, origins, and universals of morality. Check out the quotes below, and please participate (if you are interested, of course) in the poll to get started. The initial kick-off poll question is, "What is 'morality' ultimately about?" and is located in the relatively easy-to-find (for us fairly sophisticated but still far from perfect biological beings) community poll area. If we get good participation, it should be a great discussion afterward. Thanks for your attention. "hug" :naughty:

 

"The following proposition seems to me in a high degree probable -- namely, that any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual powers had become as well developed, or nearly as well developed, as in man." -- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man

 

"To understand the physical basis of human nature, down to its evolutionary roots and genetic biases, is to provide needed tools for the diagnosis and management of some of the worst crises afflicting humanity."

-- E.O. Wilson, from his article "Integrated Science and the Coming Century of the Environment"

[Peter Parker]

I don't think anyone is born with a conscious.

I think the reason living beings have morals is because they've experienced pain. For instance when a baby is being cuddled by his/her mother it enjoys the feeling of its mothers soft touch but lets say the baby is learning how to walk and falls...the feeling is painful thus the baby cries. As people grow older they then categorize things to whats good and whats not based on how they feel on the subject.

I think theres a posibility that a moral conscious can be affected by genetics also though, perhaps it is a mix of both nature and nurture but I think nurturing is the bigger factor when it comes to morals

[Micro-biology Scholar]

I don't think anyone is born with a conscious.

I think the reason living beings have morals is because they've experienced pain. For instance when a baby is being cuddled by his/her mother it enjoys the feeling of its mothers soft touch but lets say the baby is learning how to walk and falls...the feeling is painful thus the baby cries. As people grow older they then categorize things to whats good and whats not based on how they feel on the subject.

I think theres a posibility that a moral conscious can be affected by genetics also though, perhaps it is a mix of both nature and nurture but I think nurturing is the bigger factor when it comes to morals

 

You have my neo-freudian support.

[HarmonyAlexandria]

Richard Dawkins, a very well known evolutionary biologist, devotes a fair amount of time to the subject of "morality" and how it evolved in his books.

 

Simplistic answer, way back when society grew to the "tribal" stage, we figured out that it made sense to be nice to people whom we dealt with on a regular basis.

 

That's the origin of the "golden rule" that's common across multiple cultures, religious morality is just a bunch of bunk that is passed on from generation to generation via memes to preserve a particular social order.