Origins and purpose of morality

You should check out this book called" The Moral Animal" by Wright.

A very well written exploration of the evolution of morality, and why we succeed because we have it.

Thank you Rocketman, book ordered this morning. My problem is with other forums absolutely denying the subject of evolution. The Christians have done a real job on the people who post on the internet. I can use all the help I can find.

[a different tim]

Also worth checking out if you want to go into it in detail is this (human evolutionary psychology, Barrett, Dunbar and Lycett). it's an undergrad level text and isn't too hard to understand. Ev psych is very plausible but contentious (not just amongst christians) because it's based on a rather small number of case studies. This gives a very good overview and is honest about the issues.

On a different tack: If there is no God what is stopping me from being evil?

[calpurnpiso]

spike wrote

On a different tack: If there is no God what is stopping me from being evil?

Logical thinking provided by a HEALTHY brain, which is void of Christ-psychosis immoral fairy tales reduces evil. The belief in the absurd god delusions is what truly causes evil...but evil is relative for Christians think it is not evil to impose their delusional fairy tales on others while STEALING their lands and making slaves out of them!. For a Christ-psychotic it is not evil to DROWN one's children or impose their intellectual stagnation on others IMPEDING MEDICAL ADVANCEMENT which could save lives.

One must look into the life of true Christian Hitler to understand how his deep belief in GOD made him such a christ-psychotic psychopath!. If Hitler had been mentally healthy aka atheists, the holocaust would have NEVER occurred, for those who do not believe in a GOD-MYTH also do not BELIVE in its "KILLERS"!! Would one hate those who had killed a tooth Fairy, gassing 6 millin of them? Here are pictures that show Hitler's DEEP Christ-psychosis.,,:)

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

[Sternwallow]

spike wrote

On a different tack: If there is no God what is stopping me from being evil?

Simple. If there is no God then there is no Satan hence no temptation to be evil. Remember, Adam and Eve would have been perfectly good but for God's introduction of the serpent.

What I mean is this: If I am an atheist what is stopping me from being evil?

[Choobus]

spike wrote

What I mean is this: If I am an atheist what is stopping me from being evil?

the po-lice mostly

[calpurnpiso]

spike wrote

What I mean is this: If I am an atheist what is stopping me from being evil?

Your own self. Aren't you in control of your faculties? remember atheists know the difference between evils....delusional and real. Christ-psychotics do not....:)

lol.

For me, it would probably be guilt. If I am about to steal something (through lack of funds, usually), I have the huge feeling of guilt. If I don't steal the something, I have a feeling of relief. If I do steal it, then the guilt goes away after I get home.
So guilt (and fear of punishment, because I live with evil NAZI parents. Self-admitted totalitarians) would be the reasons why I don't do evil.

And nothing (not even God) would stop anyone's mind from being evil. Look at Hitler, look at Stalin. Stalin, being an atheist, was evil. Hitler, being a christian, was also evil. I don't see any correlation whatsoever (actually, studies show that people who are religious tend to be worse in the ethical area that non-theistic people).

[Choobus]

I know what you mean def. I used to be an accomplished shoplifter, but I gave it up after I started earning. Now I am scrupulously honest. I even go back if they give me too much change. Whereas I used to walk out of a bookstore with upwards of $500 worth of expensive text books, now I wouldn't have the gits to steal a pack of gum. I never felt any guilt at all (I was sticking it to the man), but now I can see the error of my ways. I dare say I would have done so a lot sooner had I been caught, but I was just too damn good.

Why do you have guilt? Why does your conscience not let you do what is evil? When one animal kills another we dont say that that animal is evil because it has no way of knowing what is right or wrong. On the other hand we condemn humans who kill other humans.
If there was a society that did not condemn certain things that you would consider evil would those things then be right?
Hitler was not a Christian just because he said he was. Christians are identified by their behaviour. Hitler said he was a christian because that way he got the support of many Germans for his cause.

you don't do evil things because you have moral conditionaing that tells you that certain things are not just--so you don't do them.

Your problem is you wonder if there is no punishment then why not do the crime.

Question for you...if you knew there was no god--why not kill and eat your own children?

Would you?

If you found out there wasn't a god why not?

Exactly what Im asking you :)
My point is that society cant exist for long without a set moral law. What is guiding that moral conditioning?

Read the book I suggested above--

nah thats a cop out---

Okay--I'm going to put this very simply--

A society that does not ahve a moral base would never have been able to compete with a socity that does have a mroal base--a moral base is an adaptive behaviour common to all existing human societies.

If we did not develop this out of a sense of empathy and our ability to create and use patterns in language and behaviour we would see individual humans succeeding for a short time but a limited cultural life compared to a society with limited personal success in favour of limited group success.

Why do we still have it after we recognize it? Well pillows are comfortable--we like to sleep lying down--we know that women look good becasue we have been programed to respond to how they look--and --hey man--whats so wrong with that--its called being human--you can't be anything else so you might as well be the best human you can be--and that includes feeling good about being moral.