Tuesday, October 21, 2014
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Morality comes from our brain and the way we act. "Why Can't We All Get Along" the author talks about a psychologist named Greene. He did an experiment on what would people do if a trolley had 5 people in it and would you pull break or push a fat man in front of the trolley to save them. He figured out there morality came from different parts of their brain. In "The Moral Instinct" the way we act makes our morality come out. If we like killing people, then the morality of that person is they like killing and think it is right. We should increase good by teaching people and others how to follow the rules and teach them what is right. If we teach them evil will disappear and it will not be a problem. Greene's experiment was to see how humans reacted to different scenarios and how there morality would affect them or others. In "The Moral Instinct" it gave information on how morality is achieved and how people act to it and do morality.
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I can see why you think this way but unfortunately I disagree with your idea of where morality comes from. I think morality comes from a person’s parents disciplines. A person learns what to do, what not to do; to know what is good and what is bad from they’re parents. For example mostly all American parents would most likely teach their children that murdering someone is an immoral act, nut parents in Pakistan would most likely teach their children that it’s even moral to kill a sister/daughter mainly the female if she dishonors the family name. Like in the situation of Gul Meena a 17 year old from Pakistan herself nearly got killed from her own brother. Even though the only reason why Meena ran away was because her husband was torturing/beating her everyday still her family didn’t care and to them it was as if she was dead. Although we all know that morals vary dramatically across time and place, I still think the main factor where we humans get our “moral code” is from our own parents.
ReplyDeleteThe question of where morality comes from will differ for each and every individual. Personally, I believe that morality comes from the environment that you grow up in. Family is one of the major factors that affect morality. When you are small you are taught by your parents’ things that are considered good and things that are considered bad. If you don’t follow these guidelines then you get some sort of punishment. If you do tend to follow these guidelines then a reward is give for reinforcement of the act. For example, in “The Moral Instinct” by Steven Pinker, he explains that for four-year olds it is “not O.K. to hit a little girl for no reason” even when a teacher allows them to. This suggests that because of their parents’ teachings about right and wrong, the toddlers have learned to connect the ideas together and in return learned a moral lesson that hitting a girl is frowned upon. This will help the toddlers to also form the idea that hitting anyone whether male of female is wrong. From a very young age with the help of our parents we are taught morality bit by bit and in the end we possess a vast knowledge to judge our own actions. Another factor that affects morality is emotions. As you grow up your parents will allow you to have more freedom and in that freedom you then are able to take decisions of whether something is morally right or wrong to do. In “Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? The Uncertain Biological Basis of Morality” by Robert Wright, a famous thought experiment called the trolley problem is conducted where you then have two options: either you pull a lever and make the trolley go to another track saving the five people but killing one person instead or you could push a man off of a bridge where he would stop the train with his body and the five people would be safe but it would kill the man. The study found that many people said “yes the first time and no the second” although for both of the options it would kill one person and save five. This is significant because it shows that “human reasoning is sometimes more about gut feeling than about logic.” Morality is taught to an individual by the environment that he/she grows up in. To be able to take it and apply it to situations is life is a choice that is given to everyone.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that our parenting or role models as children play a major factor in our "moral code”. I myself share many values that my parents have. I also believe that this passing down of beliefs was started in earlier human history as Greene discussed with the hunter gatherer example. The example is that you shouldn't kill/murder a member of another tribe because that would trigger retaliation. That is a very logical way of thinking itself. So maybe our moral code is based also on a logical view. Then again a person’s emotional state could also be to blame for an action they have committed. I believe morals can be construed by the potent emotions such as anger or jealousy. One may retaliate on the interstate after an accident more violently if this individual is blind with anger, thus reacting in a way that he normally wouldn’t react due to his moral compass.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we should increase good by teaching people what is right, but the question that this idea raises is, who decides what is right and wrong? For example, Hitler believed what he was doing was the “right” thing to do for his country, but the rest of the world sees that what he did is one of the greatest wrongs this world has ever seen. I do not believe that Adolf Hitler was taught that the extermination of an entire race, and those who shared different beliefs than him was acceptable thing to do. As for the Trolley experiment, I do see how what you’ve been taught can influence your choice whether to sacrifice one innocent, or let life run its course. Those who sacrificed one to save five showed more action in the logical portions of the brain, whereas the people who chose to let the trolley run its course showed more stimulation in the emotional portions in the brain. This could be a direct correlation to those whom were raided in a more affectionate household and those who were raised in a more logical, straight to the point type of family. What this comes down to is that we are taught right and wrong by our parents, but if they’re moral compass is skewed then chances are ours will be too. For example, racism is taught not born, in order to get rid of evil we must first abolish the evil in those who are actively living, and have already passed their thoughts on to the young. Until we take control of our thoughts and morality, we will never be able to succeeded in getting rid of evil.
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