Moral Naturalism

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Exile on August 6, 2010 at 3:27am

The first article claims that we have some evolutionary disposition for morality: that "the ground is prepared" by evolution. Empathy might be one of those evolutionary dispositions for morality. Put as simply as possible, experience and empathy are really all we need to understand fairness and develop morality. I know what hurts me (experience), so I know what probably hurts you (empathy). It's the basic recipe for the Golden Rule.

Whether or not empathy or fairness was instilled in us through evolution, morality is still learned as we mature. As the second video points out, culture and religion has a lot of influence on what morality we learn. I can attest to that, having lived in various countries around the world. The U.S., for instance, values a rugged individualism that runs counter to the group mentality (don't rock the boat) of Asian countries.

If nature has an objective moral standard that we could use, we wouldn't use it. We would interpret it to death, then use it to confirm our own subjective biases.