Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I don't think there's a universal moral code, but the process you describe is consistent with the idea that there has been a long evolution of moral reasoning, with people gradually converging on agreement over fundamental principles, but continuing to disagree in various ways about specific application.
You seem to think the fact that we all think this way suggests that there is a God. Not to say there isn't a good, but maybe it reflects that we get our moral philosophy from our parents and others who raise us. Or that the human brain is hard-wired to certain moral dispositions because we all share a brain design that evolved in this way on the plains of East Africa.
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I totally understand everyones scepticism of faith. It is faith that guides the suicide bombers. If I say God wrote my book and you say God wrote your book, and we are both using faith to back up our positions, then we will not be able to reslove our differences. There is no convergence of agreement of morality in that situation. But somehow morality seems to be converging and I don't know why. As the dinasour puts it, I don't understand this "long evolution of moral reasoning". If morality is converging, why is it converging? If morality is just a mutation that helps us survive, I don't see morality for all mankind converging over time. Mutations by definition don't converge. Evolution is based on death. The successful mutation survive and reproduce and the unsuccessful mutations die out. The Eagles with the better eyesight survive, where the eagles with poor eyesight die out because the eagles with the better eyesight get all the food. However, all humans seem to be surviving (surviving meaning they live long enough to reproduce) so humans with a certain moral disposition don't seem to wiping out other humans with out it (don't confuse prosperity with death). So it does not seem that a certain moral mutation is becoming dominant by wiping out all other mutations, yet human morality seems to be converging.
