I was looking over some old posts on an old blog I had when I first started blogging in 2005. It's funny how things change...not only lifestyles, but what a person thinks about or mulls upon...how we choose to expend our mental energy.
Back in 2005 the internet opened up a whole world of knowledge to me. I decided to follow my intellectual interests & tackle some of the questions & curiosities that were mulling around in my brain. Knowledge became an obsession. Thanks to the internet & other teaching aids... books, lectures, picking my smart friends brains, & some wonderful courses, I was able to enjoy the intellectual pursuit.

One question I tackled that I still go back to a lot, concerns morals & ethics... basically where they come from, is there such a thing as absolute morality & what is the direction humankind is going when it comes to morality & ethics.
To approach the matter in the right philosophical frame, & honestly examine the origin of morals & ethics, I feel have to first disengage myself from all the preconceptions I've picked up from my Judeo-Christian background to think clearly & honestly on the subject. Placing oneself in the position of being a human being rather then a believer or inheritor of a certain traditional mindset is essential to understanding the human condition with the least prejudice . This especially applies when it comes to questions of morals & ethics.

Although I've rejected the traditional Christian or religious mindset, I view the world from a secular humanist & mostly existentialist POV. This belief system of mine comes from my own experiences, thoughts, conclusions , etc...so I cannot say I don't lean in a particular direction. For example, as an atheist, I certainly don't think that morals & ethics are handed down to us from the monotheist's idea of god. I prefer to focus rather on our common innate human predispositions. For this reason a line of thought called evolutionary morality, resonates with me.


So, what about the religious argument that morality comes from a external god source & is therefore absolute? A sound philosophical argument against that is : Nothing in it's self is immoral & because god must first be judged to be found good, morality always precedes religion. Hence morality is a matter of human judgment.

I've come to the conclusion that most if not all of us are moral absolutists on some questions, meaning we believe there are at least some moral principles that are right in all social conditions, and we are also moral relativists believing some moral principles are right or wrong for us, and not necessarily for others. The religious are not exempt from this, as they make moral judgments about what God says all the time.

So if morality does not come from an external source then it must come from our own selves. I don't have a problem with this. But, then again I am not religious & don't believe humans are inherently evil & sinful. I do believe there is a rampant lack of understanding about human nature perpetrated by the self interest of those who would strive to control us. Just saying...

*Even the religious must agree the human mind can respond & adapt to an infinite range of environmental stimuli. The human brain is an amazing & complex organ that has set us apart from any other in the animal kingdom.

My good friend Infidel made me aware of the research done on our closest primate relatives involving their own complex social structures, etc... Considering this coupled with the extraordinary abilities of the human mind , it is not a long stretch for me to see how we are capable of putting together a rudimentary set of morals, that best helps us to survive as a species.

The last query "what is the direction humankind is going with morality & ethics?" is a fascinating question. Building on my reasoning & conclusions that morality is indeed a human construct & a evolutionary process, I believe humankind is capable of moving morally foreword & does have a future, contrary to what some fatalists would have us believe.

I'll conclude my post on stuff I think about, as I just wanted to give an overview & not make this post any longer then it already is.




*An interesting book called The Evolution of Morality By Richard Joyce goes into detail on the subject.