The Morality Thread

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The Morality Thread

Postby Apollo » Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:53 pm

Do you think that there is a Universal Morality or a general set of moral principles that apply throughout humanity?


Side thoughts.

1.What shapes your moral views?
2.Do you think your Morality is superior than anyone else's?
3.Would the World be a better place is everyone acted in line with your interpretation of Morality?
4.Do you feel the need to impose your sense of Morality on others and why?
Last edited by Apollo on Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Morality

Postby Apollo » Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:08 pm

As a moral relativist i do not believe there a general set of morals throughout humanity.

Morals have changed and continue to change in different societies. Where once slavery was seen as necessary with no moral backlash it is now in most cultures seen as taboo and morally wrong.

Right and wrong changes and there is very little in my opinion that remains static, it is only was a society accepts something at the norm it that find itself attached to a sense of morality. Gay rights, who cares about the gays to GAy rights are important it is morally wrong to discriminate oon ground of sexual orientation.

1.My moral views are shaped by my own thought processses instead of religion , commandments,societal views,legal system etc

2.Yes. I subscribe to the harm principle

"that no one should be forcibly prevented from acting in any way he chooses provided his acts are not invasive of the free acts of others"

Anything else is fair game, and morally acceptable.And feel that any more restrictive moral views are inferior

3.Maybe, the world would be a friendlier place that's for sure but im not sure how big of an impact a simple morality would have on the economy etc.If all drugs are legal and laws arent as restrictive who knows what would happen to the market.

4.Never, its unfortunate when people are bigoted are have their sense of morality outlined for them in a book but i would never try to change anyone else world view,Live and let live. Its also unfortunate that those with restrictive views won't return the favour.
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby Dejan » Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:20 am

yeah obviously
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby StLGooner » Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:12 pm

I pretty much agree. Morality varies from culture to culture, even within the same city, town, or even neighborhood. And I believe our morals will continue to change and evolve as humans continue to change and evolve as a society. I think you could make a case that maybe religions were needed at certain points in time in order to establish or maintain some morality in society, but there is plenty of evidence for moral behavior among humans and different societies before religion was around. Today, I don't believe religion is still needed to guide us to be moral beings. In fact, I would argue that the main religions preach everything but morality. If you need religion to be a moral person then I would say that doesn't reflect well on your own morality.
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby Zedie » Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:31 am

Good thread!

1.What shapes your moral views?

A variety. A large part of my morality is made up of how my mum and wider family raised me. My values, way of thinking, moral compass is based on experiences that i witnessed growing up. The rest is the environment i grew up in and witnessing or being confronted with key decisions in life that could have taken me down different paths.

Also watching the mistakes others around me have made and the affect it had on people around them. As ive aged, ive probably become more polarised in my own personal morality (spose its down to experiencing more) and attempting to see the drivers behind others moral decisions have made me less prone to judge instantly).

How influential is religion, the law of the land, societal pressures etc to my own morality? All aspects probably have played a part in making me the person i am now, but now, they affect me far less than when i was a child. I know that all things that are frowned upon by the establishment are not neccesarily bad, i also know things that are endorsed aren't necessarily good.

2.Do you think your Morality is superior than anyone else's?

Probably yes, but this question is too broad. There's probably always someone out there that has a lower moral threshold than you, however that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person or anything. I honestly believe that the majority of people are generally good at their core, its the external influences that some people have been exposed to that make them do things that you may personally not agree with. Then again, some people may judge certain decisions ive made in life as morally corrupt and consider me a bad person, but then thats just something you have to accept in life, you cant be all things to everyone, you are who you are and only you should change that if you want to or if you have a responsibility to.

3.Would the World be a better place is everyone acted in line with your interpretation of Morality?

Maybe. I view myself as someone that has:

Worked hard all their life
Paid my dues
Taken care of my responsibilities on the whole
Tries to make the right choice
Feels regret when ive made a wrong choice
Make the hard decisions, even if it its not my personal preference, but for the good of those around me

then again, I know I:

Argue my case long after the point is not worth discussing
Can be drawn into conflict
Can be overly critical of others
Swear quite a bit
Not take others feelings into consideration initially, until whats been said has been said

The world would either be a chill place, where everyone gets on and lives good but could then descend into some deep beef. But then be chill again and move on. Until the next argument......

4.Do you feel the need to impose your sense of Morality on others and why?

I think i feel the need to state my morality within a conversation or debate, especially if im speaking with someone whose morality is closer to the opposite of my own.

As ive gotten older, ive had the epiphany that sometimes, no matter what you say or how much evidence you bring to the table, a person can ignore this and base their views on little more than a gut feeling or what is comfortable to their psyche and in these cases, it is what it is.

For my kids, i feel that i must impose my sense of morality upon them as they grow up because i know how easy it is to be influenced by those around us or out there, that may not have the best intentions or were plain never taught right from wrong. I dont personally see myself or my morality as being on the darker side. My main goal in life is to raise my boys to know that they will have my backing to do what ever they want to, for them to work as hard as they can for what they want and to never be afraid to go for what is really important to them. I can only hope they live a good happy life, especially as there is so much in the world thats just plain shit.

Ill be the first to say to my loved ones, or people i care about, or people i respect whether something they are doing is dangerous, hurtful or morally disagreeable, all while knowing that it could easily be ignored. The way i am, id rather just say it or get it out there, then sit and watch their world burn and think about what i could have done after the fact.

Sometimes, we just need a push in the right direction, sometimes we need to learn the hard way depending on a person's conviction on something.

I can see that others may view me as over-barring, but then everyone's different and im the type of person that will just try to leave people to their thing if there's no reasoning with them. This obviously doesn't always work in practice, but i try nevertheless.
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby Angelito » Sat Apr 04, 2015 10:35 am

Unless you follow Kant, morality is relative.

Having sex with somebody other than your wife is an immoral act - why? According to Kant, it's immoral because if everybody did it, we'd be in a state of free fall. For Mills, if the consequence is positive, you may do it. Yet, who decides what's positive and what's negative?

The thing is that ethics and morals are closely determined to avoid anarchy. It's a societal thing - that is regulated by thinkers and philosophers to "make this world an amicable place."

As long as you're not harming somebody, I believe the action is moral. I have a free will that I can exercise as much as I want. There's a classic example that I have the right to swing my fist, but do not have the right to connect it with somebody else's nose.

The ultimate principle is not to do any harm to others. What harm is - is another question.


1. What shapes your moral views?

Judgment and context underlined by universality.


2. Do you think your Morality is superior than anyone else's?

No. I'm not a modernist.


3. Would the World be a better place is everyone acted in line with your interpretation of Morality?

Perhaps, but diversity is the reason why the world is good. The only thing that makes good--good--is the presence of bad.


4. Do you feel the need to impose your sense of Morality on others and why?

No, I'm not a modernist again. There are several ways people function based on society, culture, genes, psychology, and philosophy. The aim is to accumulate collective wisdom - not acquired habitual pattern.


Stealing is intrinsically considered wrong, but if a pauper starving steals a loaf of bread from the bakery, is the action right or wrong? It's wrong because stealing isn't right - according to a traditional definition, but if that loaf saves her life, it's the "greater good," no?

Ultimately, I feel the government should be responsible for its citizens. The society should be responsible for people and the community for its members. The base of unethical act is rooted in matter, more so than spirit. Capitalism doesn't help this, yet communism isn't the way forward as well - because it restricts human freedom. A middle path between capitalistic tendencies and communist model is what we need. Is that socialism? Could be, but that has its innate flaws in itself.

Morality searches for Utopia, which is impossible. No government could achieve that. Only through self-determination and self-consciousness - can we reach close to a state where everybody strives to make everybody at ease. With unequal distribution of resources, that's not possible, and with the inherent flaws in human beings, it becomes mythical to achieve such a state.

Our education system together with religion has set the stage for inequality and immorality. As long as we focus on the goal, and not on the means, we're never going to find a perfect moral code. And once a code is formed, it becomes an imposed set of rules, which is against human nature.

When we speak of religion, I feel Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and Vedanta Philosophy are best suited in the modern world. But one just can't abide and ignore the rest of the world, in all its flaws and inconsistencies, which is why we become forced to "compromise," and a blend into the mix.

If we all followed Kant's model, we aren't even allowed to defend ourselves from abuse. If somebody beats us and points a gun to our face, we're supposed to call the authorities instead of using our freewill to defend ourselves because using freewill, in such a case, would be to injure or kill the criminal in response, which according to Kant - is an unethical act. What do we do then?

If we believe in consequences, we may hurt that person in return, but if - by doing so - we end up fatally injuring or killing the person, what happens if we realize that he had a child and his child will now grow up without a family?

I believe in non-initiation of what we consider immoral, but if somebody else initiates it - we can refute it. We are and should, and we have the freedom to.

For instance, cops question us if they suspect us of foul play. They have the laws to back their approach. But if I'm innocent, then they're violating my rights, which nobody seems to account to.

Ultimately, it's the "I" spirit and the presence of "ego," in us that makes us act in the way we do. If we remain detached and consider this world a big family, I doubt we'd see as much chaos as we do now.
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby CukiZeGerman » Sat Apr 04, 2015 11:01 am

Great post Angelito
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby CukiZeGerman » Thu May 21, 2015 9:35 pm

Hold the doooooor
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby Walcott14 » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:41 pm

Apollo wrote:Do you think that there is a Universal Morality or a general set of moral principles that apply throughout humanity?


Side thoughts.

1.What shapes your moral views?
2.Do you think your Morality is superior than anyone else's?
3.Would the World be a better place is everyone acted in line with your interpretation of Morality?
4.Do you feel the need to impose your sense of Morality on others and why?


Religious person, so religion :)
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Re: The Morality Thread

Postby Jackson » Wed Jun 17, 2015 6:09 pm

Apollo wrote:Do you think that there is a Universal Morality or a general set of moral principles that apply throughout humanity?
'Do as you would be done by' seems to be a guiding principle since the dawn of time.
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