6.04.2009

Update: On Virtues

So, just as I make my post, I find perfect article for what I'm talking about.

"Prof Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at University of Colorado, Boulder, believes that morals are "hard-wired" into the brains of all mammals and provide the "social glue" that allow often aggressive and competitive animals to live together in groups."

According to this controversial study, it's not just humans who know what right and wrong is. It's animals. Which isn't surprising considering we are animals. We're not the supreme being that rules the world.

So when you think about morality, maybe there are some absolute truths. Those truths being ones that are necessary for not only humans to have societies, but also animals around the world. It's obvious that humans and other animals such as wolves, coyotes, etc that are mentioned in the article will have some differences on what is right and wrong, but is it possible that at the most basic level, our different species can agree that some things (like random murder) are just wrong.

I think that if it was just you...you were the only person in the world, then nothing could really be right and wrong. It's up to you, you're the only person who can decide. But once you start introducing other people into the mix, then it becomes important to decide on a few basic rules that will govern society. That's not to say that everyone will follow them, but everyone NOT following them will lead to the destruction of the society. Therefore, from an evolution standpoint, there is basic sense of morality that is in everyone of us. Our ancestors decided to form groups and have basic societies. So maybe it ends up that the little voice in the back of your head that tells you that you are doing the wrong thing is really your DNA telling you that you're doing something against the fabric of society. People aren't always going to follow the rules, but I think that everyone of us knows what the right thing to do is, whether or not we choose to do it.

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