Why do people believe in morality?

If you do not use your inner compass based upon your upbringing and belief system then what guides your heart simply laws fashioned upon those governing to manipulate your behavior to their advantage.

In my opinion, the difference was illustrated during Hurricane Irene, which hit our area hard a year ago, and we loaned elderly neighbors an extra propane heater, took our chainsaw, and helped neighbors remove fallen trees. Some fired up the grill and made coffee and snacks and we took care of each other.

Far cry from those in urban areas during Hurricane Sandy who are still crying for government help needing water, food and even whining for underwear.

I've had a job helping elderly alzheimer's patients for over 5 years. Morality has no motivating factor whatsoever in my desire to help people.

they go to school and study contract law 101 - then they believe they know stuff.

empathy gets confused with morality sometimes too.

Yep. People have the misguided belief that in order to be empathetic, you have to be moral. My desire to assist my fellow man has nothing to do with trying to keep up with some standard established by society. I just have a heart.

Just dont be an asshole, OP, because people who are assholes suck.

What motivates you and do you merely provide the minimum service provided according to the guidelines or does your heart cause you to reach out with a viable reminder of these peoples past even a small token such as candy. Do remember that filling in the squares is not the same as listening and responding from the heart.

Another schmuck that still doesn't get that the "Against THE MAN" is a bunch of crap made by THE MAN. That the "Question Authority!" is a bunch of crap made by Authority.

Another one with the Zionist inside his head...can't tell his ass from his elbow anymore and despite that thinks that he is the "Neo fighting the Matrix" or something.

I give 100% all the time. Why? Because they are helpless and have been abandoned by their family and society, and they have done nothing to deserve the illness that has fallen upon them. They need somebody to step up, so I do it. Not because it is the morally "right" thing to do, or what "God would want me to do," but because I am confident that nobody can provide better care than I can and because I have infinite respect for anybody who has endured more than 70+ years on this terrible planet.

Last Edited by letsgetnihilistic on 12/05/2012 10:07 PM

And since people generally follow moral guidelines, it's safe to say that most assholes are "morally conscious" people. Trust me, the small population of nihilists are not the ones ruining this planet.

So if being against "the man" is actually supporting the man, and supporting "the man" is supporting the man, I guess we're all fucked. Great logic.

No. Its the ones that promote Nihilism the most. Of course they are not Nihilist since they -being the smart people that they are- know that Nihilism is destructive and it's for the moronic cattle only.

How many nihilists do you know?

...

How many assholes do you know?

"THE MAN" Hegelian-dialectic has you by the balls.

"The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation": [link to www.davesweb.cnchost.com]

Read that because you need it. It tells you the story of the modern "Against THE MAN" mentality and culture.

You were the first person to introduce that phrase in this thread. It has little to do with the topic I'm attempting to discuss.

You only look for an excuse to be immoral and deny world history that confirms the Bible & Jesus, and your coming day of judgment.

self righteous indignation.

But I don't act "immorally" even by the standards of those who believe in morality.

Without morals, we would all end up dead like pirannahs eating each other. DUH?

That hasn't happened anyways?

it's doing it when nobody is looking

Morality (in humans) is an enhanced form of survival we have within our animal instincts. It's really more logical than ethical. The species that survive do so with some form of unity within their own species and respect for the boundaries of others. Within a species, the ones that stray from the pack get left behind and either starve or get eaten by something higher in the food chain.

As far as animals that don't travel in groups, is it not moral by our own definition to take actions when it's sink or swim? One can be against murder but still justify action within a kill-or-be-killed scenario.

Ultimately, animals or humans, ethical codes become broken because of fear. That's universal.

I generally agree with your premise, but I think that the human idea of morality has been extended much too far and has been applied to too many aspects of life as to be rendered incomparable to the concept you're referring to.

Last Edited by letsgetnihilistic on 12/05/2012 11:05 PM

I would imagine that we do agree about what "morality" is in a fundamental sense or at the least, we're talking about the same idea. I think it's just what other people define the word as includes a more compassionate form of it. I mean, most people get a warm and fuzzy sense of accomplishment by helping out someone who can't help them back and while there are theoretical explanations of that, I wouldn't define that as an emotion developed because of a natural desire to survive. I could see how it would be considered the same thing so maybe we just haven't found a more appropriate term (for either what you're looking to define or what others call morality).

Last Edited by Brian Moser on 12/05/2012 11:27 PM