are we born with our morals ??

[myquestions]

are we born with our individual morals?
can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

 

[Merlin]

Yes to both.

 

[t_w]

are we born with our individual morals?
can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

We aren't born with our morals. Morals are imposed upon us by social constraints, which don't kick in until our linguistic skills are sufficient to render the 'rules' or 'morals' that are being instructed to us. If you were born in the house of a Nazi and were force-fed Nazism every day your morals would(unfortunately) almost certainly be that of a Nazi. This is why we see one dominant morality in different societies. In parts of Indonesia, torture is often performed and generally permitted.
In general, then, we are born into a society which will essentially form our moral system. Our moral system is thereby confirmed not at birth, but at a certain age when the morals can be recognised.

 

[elman]

We aren't born with our morals. Morals are imposed upon us by social constraints, which don't kick in until our linguistic skills are sufficient to render the 'rules' or 'morals' that are being instructed to us. If you were born in the house of a Nazi and were force-fed Nazism every day your morals would(unfortunately) almost certainly be that of a Nazi. This is why we see one dominant morality in different societies. In parts of Indonesia, torture is often performed and generally permitted.
In general, then, we are born into a society which will essentially form our moral system. Our moral system is thereby confirmed not at birth, but at a certain age when the morals can be recognised.

Neither of us know for sure, but I suspect you are incorrect. I think we are all born as humans with a capacity for and a desire for being loved and loving others. This is the basis for morality. Education, culture, training, can all have its effect and we can be trained to become cruel and unloving. We are not however robots that only reflect our training and culture. There have been many examples of people coming out of cruel environments who chose the better path.

 

[:æ:]

I would answer the OP's questions in this way:

We are moral beings by virtue of our consciousness, but it is incidental that we are born that way. The means by which we decide our particular moral beliefs is really what you're asking about. To that question, unfortunately, there is really no easy answer. Basically, every person decides their moral beliefs differently. In general, basic moral beliefs are taught to people at very early ages in order to socialize them. This establishes a broad framework in which the individual matures and more freely decides the details of his moral beliefs -- sometimes rejecting eariler-held moral beliefs, other times becoming more convicted of them.

Every person necessarily has a unique set of moral beliefs, because moral beliefs are "point-of-view" propositions. Our morals depend on our experience, and everyone by virtue of their conscious point-of-view necessarily has a unique experience.

 

[t_w]

Neither of us know for sure, but I suspect you are incorrect. I think we are all born as humans with a capacity for and a desire for being loved and loving others. This is the basis for morality. Education, culture, training, can all have its effect and we can be trained to become cruel and unloving. We are not however robots that only reflect our training and culture. There have been many examples of people coming out of cruel environments who chose the better path.

In general I would have to say I agree. A human 'instinct' for loving/helping others is perhaps one of the reasons humanity is such a successful species. A group of humans with this trait would definitely spread more than another group without this trait. However, I would go further and say that genes are the basis for our morality, in that our morality is a mechanism 'employed' by our genes to maximise our evolutionary fitness. In other words, if killing and raping was massively beneficial for our evolutionary fitness(it isn't, of course, but imagine if it was), then our morality would be formed, not around love, but around killing and rape. But my point in my previous post was that the way in which we learn our morality is not completely instintive - it requires some members of the same species(hence the importance of parents in humans) to teach us our morality, or at least make us aware of the specifics(as all moralities are, in my opinion, generally formed around genes).

 

[t_w]

can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

I'd say two people can have very different morals from the same environment as our genes determine the way in which we react to our experiences. So, if two people have different genes, they react differently to the same experiences. Since our morality is often formed largely by our experiences and our reactions to them(there may be a built-in element as well), it would seem that our morality as a result would/could be different.
However, since most people in the same 'environment' have the same morality(we all roughly agree murder, rape, stealing, violence, etc. are wrong), we can conclude that morality is mostly formed by the environment and our experiences, and therefore it is unlikely that two people in the same environment will have different moralities.

 

[Eudaimonist]

can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

People from the same culture do disagree on moral subjects. So, yes.

 

[Annoula]

i don't have an opinion but i can say what Aristotles believed.

we are born with the CAPABILITY for morality but in order to become moral we need to act again and again on morals, that is we need to make our morals a HABIT.

also a teacher is necessary.

 

[Eudaimonist]

i don't have an opinion but i can say what Aristotles believed.

we are born with the CAPABILITY for morality but in order to become moral we need to act again and again on morals, that is we need to make our morals a HABIT.

also a teacher is necessary.

I agree with Aristotle. I think we all have the potential for moral character much like we all have the potential for learning a language. Just as learning a language is natural for us, so is developing a character. Of course, just as people may never bother to learn to speak or write a language well, so people may never bother to develop good moral habits.

 

[EverlastingMan]

You know what was really annoying? I went to this lecture by either a havard or princeton grad and he said that evolution did could not explain all morals and thus that morals were absolute. I asked him why culutral pressures could not account for what evolution failed to take into account. He just skipped my question and started talking about the faults of evolutionary inbred morals, which he had said already. It was annoying. And since he failed to prove to me otherwise that is how I stand. I believe that morals are to some extent inbred in us by evolution and also by cultural pressures. Evolution taking care of the more basic morals and culture of the more complex.

 

[Eudaimonist]

You know what was really annoying? I went to this lecture by either a havard or princeton grad and he said that evolution did could not explain all morals and thus that morals were absolute.

I think that anyone who treats morality as only either genetic commandments or divine commandments completely misses the point of what morality is all about. This is worse than Lord, Liar, Lunatic.

 

[BillR]

are we born with our individual morals?
can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

Yes we are born with morals.

 

[shinbits]

are we born with our individual morals?
can two ppl brought up in the same environment etc have diff morals?

Two people brought up in the same environment can have morals, but different values.

Both would eventually come to realize that stealing is wrong, especially if they've been stolen from. But the differing values would develop.
For example, two men can grow up and feel bad about hitting a woman; this would be morals. But one man may not feel bad about womanizing, as in love 'em and leave 'em, while the other may value a monagomous relationship with a woman. The former would be morals, and the latter would be values.

 

[Stinker]

As children are growing up they recognize that there is a moral right and moral wrong. When they become adults they are fully aware. No matter what culture you investigate what certain things that will be found is that such things as cowardice, treasonous, etc., behaviors are looked upon as morally wrong.

One point that a writer made some years ago was that this oughtness or what he called the moral law that we humans have pressing on us, is brought out in us when we are taught it. He said it was like arithmetic. That both the moral law and arithmetic are objective. That we could no more change mathmatical truth than we can change the moral law.

 

[Eudaimonist]

No matter what culture you investigate what certain things that will be found is that such things as cowardice, treasonous, etc., behaviors are looked upon as morally wrong.

There are precious few universals of this sort. A morality which everyone had to agree on would be extremely thin and not provide much guidance.

One point that a writer made some years ago was that this oughtness or what he called the moral law that we humans have pressing on us, is brought out in us when we are taught it. He said it was like arithmetic. That both the moral law and arithmetic are objective. That we could no more change mathmatical truth than we can change the moral law.

Perhaps so, but showing a few areas of agreement doesn't establish the truth of this claim.

 

[feral]

Morals aren't something you're born with. They are learned, through experiences, teaching, trial and error, your society, etc. If it were any different, we'd all have the exact same beliefs. People need to be taught what is right and wrong within their culture, and not all cultures have the same moral standards. It's all learned, and certain morals aren't inherant in all people.

 

[elman]

Morals aren't something you're born with. They are learned, through experiences, teaching, trial and error, your society, etc. If it were any different, we'd all have the exact same beliefs. People need to be taught what is right and wrong within their culture, and not all cultures have the same moral standards. It's all learned, and certain morals aren't inherant in all people.

But different cultures all over the world know what it means to be loving and what it means to be unloving and for the most part they agree. So it is not just about what we are taught.

 

[elman]

In general I would have to say I agree. A human 'instinct' for loving/helping others is perhaps one of the reasons humanity is such a successful species. A group of humans with this trait would definitely spread more than another group without this trait. However, I would go further and say that genes are the basis for our morality, in that our morality is a mechanism 'employed' by our genes to maximise our evolutionary fitness. In other words, if killing and raping was massively beneficial for our evolutionary fitness(it isn't, of course, but imagine if it was), then our morality would be formed, not around love, but around killing and rape. But my point in my previous post was that the way in which we learn our morality is not completely instintive - it requires some members of the same species(hence the importance of parents in humans) to teach us our morality, or at least make us aware of the specifics(as all moralities are, in my opinion, generally formed around genes).

I agree except I don't believe the genes and environment is the total answer to the source of our morals unless we are to posit that God is the source of our genes.l

 

[Eudaimonist]

Morals aren't something you're born with. They are learned, through experiences, teaching, trial and error, your society, etc. If it were any different, we'd all have the exact same beliefs. People need to be taught what is right and wrong within their culture, and not all cultures have the same moral standards. It's all learned, and certain morals aren't inherant in all people.

Agreed!