Morality has changed, and continues to change. At one point in history it was moral -- even blessed by God -- to kill infants by bashing their heads on boulders.
Morality is societally based; in one culture eating dead bodies to keep yourself and children alive is sickening [Donner Party], while in other societies eating the body of a family member is the ultimate way to show love and caring, or eating the brain of the enemy is the way to show ultimate respect. In France if a man has a mistress, it is not immoral; in the USA it is. Judgments of right/wrong, immoral/amoral/moral can only be based upon the where/when/who/how ... Morality is limited to cognizant intelligent animals [and whatever god spiritual being they believe in]. Because of that, morality must change when what is known changes and when intelligence is different. The problem with "morality" is that too often people don't want to "own" it themselves ... they prefer to point to an outside source of "right" and "wrong." ==== On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 19:32:07 -0500, Samuel W. Heywood wrote: > On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:01:53 +0100 Casper Gielen wrote: >> - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> Hash: SHA1 >> Op woensdag 26 februari 2003 06:42, schreef Samuel W. Heywood: >>> Morality may be defined as virtuous conduct. Popular opinion >>> frequently fails to support virtuous conduct. Haven't you ever >>> noticed that? >> But in the end, morality is changed by public opinion. >> What is right and what is wrong changes from country to country, and from time >> to time. Popular opinion changes faster and more often than morality, but it >> certainly influences it. > Morality has never been changed and it never will be changed. > What is legal and what is illegal varies from country to country. > Also the standards of behavior that are socially acceptable may vary > from country to country and they may change from time to time. > Popular opinion has a very strong influence on behavior, but it has > no influence whatsoever on morality. Socially acceptable behavior is > not necessarily morally upright behavior. Haven't you ever noticed > that? > Sam Heywood > -- > This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser: > http://browser.arachne.cz/ -- Arachne V1.71;UE01, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
