<<IF you can address specifically either/both of innate and intellectually arrived at too, that would accelerate the discussion somewhat. >>
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that we have an innate sense of right and wrong, or at least what some call a "moral grammar". There are obviously some cultural nuances, but still strong similarities that cut across cultures. Even young children are able to make "appropriate" moral choices. The evolutionary explanation of this is that these behaviors were conducive to group cooperation and thus genes that contributed to the behaviors tended to propagate. You can google a lot of books on the evolution of morality. So the basic thrust is most of us have a evolutionary-derived sense of right and wrong that doesn't need to be defended in any objective way, but it just IS. As for the intellectually derived morality, I'm not a big proponent of it, because in the end, their results must match our intuitions, which they often don't. However, you will see centuries of philosophers attempting to determine a formal way of determining right and wrong, such as utilitarianism. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
