Science of Morality, Anyone?

Science of Morality, Anyone?

Where, in American culture, is the domain of knowledge that we would identify as morality studied and taught?

I suspect that if we do not quickly develop a science of morality that will make it possible for us to live together on this planet in a more harmonious manner our technology will help us to destroy the species and perhaps the planet soon.

It seems to me that we have given the subject matter of morality primarily over to religion. It also seems to me that if we ask the question ‘why do humans treat one another so terribly?’ we will find the answer in this moral aspect of human culture.

The ‘man of maxims’ “is the popular representative of the minds that are guided in their moral judgment solely by general rules, thinking that these will lead them to justice by a ready-made patent method, without the trouble of exerting patience, discrimination, impartiality—without any care to assure themselves whether they have the insight that comes from a hardly-earned estimate of temptation, or from a life vivid and intense enough to have created a wide fellow-feeling with all that is human.” George Eliot The Mill on the Floss

I agree to the point of saying that we have moral instincts, i.e. we have moral emotions. Without these moral emotions we could not function as social creatures. These moral emotions are an act of evolution. I would ague that the instinct for grooming that we see in monkeys is one example of this moral emotion.

We can no longer leave this important matter in the hands of the Sunday-school. Morality must become a top priority for scientific study.

 

I believe our morals affect the brain. Most of us have a moral compass that will tell us if we are doing something wrong. I believe if continue to follow a morally destructive path that it tears at our energy field leaving us open to evil and puts us on a downward spiral.

I believe when we do what is good it strengthens our energy field.

I remember so well when it became illegal not to have bible teachings or to pray in school. I could hear satan's laughter in the halls and it was very scary. To me it was the end of the innocence. We always had a bible story and a giving of thanks right before lunch at my school that very day a child died in the lunch room....

 

Why is grooming, as displayed by monkeys, an indication of moral emotions?

Emotions are instincts; they are something that is part of our genes. They are part of our genetic makeup because they were necessary for the survival of the social species. Some species are loners but some are naturally social. The social species needed emotions that facilitated social unity. Mutual grooming is one means for bonding between individuals and the group.

Would morals count as knowledge? Do emotions count as knowledge? Directly I must say that the emotion of fear is not knowledge. The emotion leads to a feeling and the consciousness of the feeling becomes knowledge. Morality is about relationships, i.e. certain instincts make a social group possible.

Without social cohesion social groups cannot survive. Reasoning about facts is a human means for survival and thriving. The more we know and understand about relationships the better will be our lives. In fact, because we have developed such powerful technology and thus have placed in the hands of people such power that if we do not do a better job about relationships our species cannot long survive.

 

In most of our society's "moral" evolution we are very primitive. Attuning our selves according to nature's laws of balance is the ultimate morality which people should live by. Why would you pollute a planet which is ultimately our life support? Why cut down a rainforest full of biodiversity to accomplish the short term need of growing more corn for ethanol? As far as societal morality, people should at least try to cut down on unmitigated consumption, because the earth simply can't support it. We are in essence going against our long term goal of living fruitfully because we are being so short-sighted now. Facing this reality is one of the first steps to becoming "moral" as a society.
On an individual level the guiding force for decisions shoul be love. Yah, I know it kinda sounds hippie or oversimplified but it is true. Love/happiness/joy heals, and separation from that is what causes most problems in our world. On the deepest level all that people want is inner love and peace. Where there is a lack of love or peace it should be our duty to cultivate love within our selves, and then reflect that onto the world. Learning to compromise for the greater good of the community, and having the strength to accept change. If everyone could just go to sleep and wake up the next day with love as their only truth, the world would be healed in an instant. People should learn to find utter joy at the smallest joys in life (Take my Korean mom. If you say thank you to her for anything, she will be the happiest person ever for the whole day.) Most of society is like heroin junkies trying to shoot away the pains of desperation or isolation, except instead of heroin they sell their souls to giant corporations in hopes of that next "fix" of happiness. Cultivation of inner joy and love should be the top priority, and proper morality will follow without failure. On a subjective level this should definately be a guide for morality.
People's consciousness still have much evolving to do before these truths could be realized. As long as people identify their goals with the duration their physical body exists and pure gratification we will have the same problems we have always had. A good example of people who lived according to these morals are many of the Native Americans. Sustainability, reverance for nature and it's delicate balance, and use of elders to raise and educate children are all examples of how they knew of how to attune themselves to nature. In many modern societies we deplete resources at alarming rates, destroy anything we deem "useless", and slowly nudge old people to live lives of quiet despair and uselessness. Now the white man saw them as primitive, and it was true that they were technologically, but spiritually they were far ahead. We could learn a thing or two from em,