Morality - Taught Or Inbuilt ?

[Brother Hassan]

The moral values we have, are we primarily taught them or do we have them inbuilt ? What say you ?

[viclou]

I think we are taught.,,

[Brother Hassan]

I think we are taught.,,

So like if someone is left in the jungle from birth, he won't know killing is bad ?

[JustinLordly]

I think it has a lot to do with personality. And good manners are indeed learned.

[williamjay]

both ways really, unfortunately the good ones we get by default from the act of creation too often get over-written by the ones we get by - parents, siblings, life experiences, community and peer pressures .. . .

[torpex2002]

Bit of a false dichotomy really.

 

our sense of things we should and should not do comes from both places, instinct and upbringing - nature AND nurture.

 

for example, the age of consent, what drugs are legal, what meat you can eat, sexuality equality, gender equality, voting age, drinking age, etc, etc, all depend on where you live and when you lived there.

 

other things, eg murder, theft, incest, etc, are things that all cultures have condemned at all times, as you'd predict from beings able to empathise with each other, and which live in communal groups.

[Shinryuu]

other things, eg murder, theft, incest, etc, are things that all cultures have condemned at all times, as you'd predict from beings able to empathise with each other, and which live in communal groups.

 

That's not quite true, there have been many cultures throughout history that have encouraged murder and theft as a means of survival and as religious belief. Incest was actually encouraged in monarchies such as England and France; the thought was if you married another country's royal family it would be easier to talk peace and assimilate kingdoms, but if you married and procreated from within the same royal family your child's blood would be 'purer' and would be more adept at ruling over the kingdom.

[torpex2002]

there have been many cultures throughout history that have encouraged murder and theft as a means of survival

 

But that's what I'm getting at - murdering and stealing from others, not from their own.

 

To be honest I shouldn't have used the word "murder" in a question like this since the word means specifically "unlawful" killing of people, which is a misnomer on the topic of where our sense of good and bad things to do comes from.

 

Arguably so too is using the word "incest" when what counts as "close family" is again a matter of opinion.

[zxc809]

i think its based on the social environment. family is most likely the biggest factor. School, ideology, culture, experience etc are affecting one morality. mostly people around you are the one affecting you. however i think when people grew up to a certain ages, they can choose witch path to walk in.

 

so in the end i think first is to be thought then build by oneself by his/her awareness.

[Lejendary]

I believe Moral values are taught. Like one of the previous post, it is taught through social environment. Everyone's social surrounding is different, thus having different views on values as you grow up.

[raymond01]

morality is taught. the only instinct is survival of the species (which is done thru reproduction).

 

the question is now is what does 'survival of the species' involve?

love as opposed to lust for sex?

self-defense as opposed to murder and other forms of violence?

stealing for self-preservation (shelter, food) as opposed to stealing for want/greed?

sharing if you more than you need as opposed to hoarding?

i believe that we could survive as a species better if we took the first option in each of the above instead of the second. but if we did then we would probably not need self-defense and stealing.

[Vordar]

s

[Rober1991]

I think this is difficult question. I always try to be moral.

[Cost]

My answer is both. It was inbuilt by nature because cooperation is beneficial for survival, which means that those who had inbuilt morality survived more and those who had it less survived less and that's why we find it inbuilt. Also it is taught by our parents and society for the same reason, it is beneficial for thriving.