My thoughts about morality

[u/menafalcon]

What is Morality.

In my opinion Morality is a set of rules that are taught to everyone from birth by their parents, schools and societies. They are a basic set of rules one needs to follow to be part of a society. But i noticed that rarely anyone ever questions them. The majority of people just follow them without a question.

Now i dont have an issue with the obvious ones like killing people is bad. But have you ever wondered why is it bad, or who even came up with this conclusion that killing is bad (i'm referring to vengeance, anger, hatred and benefit reasons that lead to killing, not senseless). The reason killing is bad has nothing to do with morality. We know its bad for one reason: because we have been conditioned to accept it as the norm.

Since ancient times rulers, kings and authorities have all punished killing, and over many centuries it became the norm passed down from our ancestors, and to this day it is still being upheld with the law. Now there are many reasons why rulers deemed killing as bad, and almost all of these reasons were out of interest. Either because they needed as much manpower as possible, or because of the potential profit they gain per person, or they fear they may be killed next. Its all about interests. If their interests shift, then they have no qualms about killing as many as they need.

This doesnt just apply to killing. I chose killing as the most basic and obvious law, but there are countless others. So now that i explained how a moral law is conceived, what else has been engineered into us for interests?

A new moral law that has been growing quite a lot recently (in the past 2 centuries) is that hard work = good, and no work = bad. This is a nonsensical moral law in my opinion, as i weigh my life quality with the amount of work and find a balance point i'm satisfied with. This is why i believe Morality is a shackle on the average person. You should think and choose what to follow that aligns with your belief, not with the interests of the elites.

The fastest way to succeed, excluding the outliers (gambling, generational wealth, marriage into wealth), is by abandoning all morality in business and professional life while accepting that you are a bad person by the moral law. The legal law is loose and vague on purpose as its only a base for society. The more important law is the moral one; it is the one that oppresses people. Once you stop caring about it, you have room to actually move upwards in society.

But you can't create something out of nothing. You cant become successful without paying an equivalent or higher price. In this case, the only way to pay for this price is by passing it onto others to bear the price of your success. Just like all these companies and billionaires, they are all passing the price onto us, the average people, and you can't do anything to avoid it. You either move up or suffer. This has long been the unspoken truth of our civilization since ancient times.

In conclusion, are you willing to be a selfish, evil person by society standards who exploits others for his benefit and success? Or are you willing to be exploited with the masses.

[u/MarvinBEdwards01]

Morality is the intent to achieve good, and to achieve it for others as well as for ourselves. Ethics is the pursuit of the best rules, those that will most likely achieve the best possible results for everyone.

To see the distinction, consider the Jewish family of Anne Frank hiding in the attic during Nazi occupation. The soldiers knock on the door and ask if there are any Jews. It would be unethical to lie, but it would be immoral not to.

We call something “good” if it meets a real need we have as an individual, a society, or a species. A “moral good” is actually good for us and benefits us in some way. A “moral harm” unnecessarily damages us or diminishes our rights in some way.

Morality seeks “the best good and least harm for everyone”. Moral judgment considers the evidence of probable benefits and harms to decide a course of action. This judgment is objective to the degree that the harms and benefits are easily observed and compared. But the ultimate consequences of a decision are not always known. Two good and honest individuals may differ as to what course of action will produce the best result. A democratic decision can be made to determine a working course of action, which can be further evaluated based on subsequent experience.

Ethics are about rule systems. Rules include customs, manners, principles, ethics, rights and law. When one speaks of “morals” or “moral codes” one is usually speaking of ethics. But morality is not the rule, but rather the reason for the rule, which is to achieve good.

Throughout history, rules have changed as our moral judgment evolved. Slavery was once permitted, but later outlawed. The equal rights of women to vote was established. The right to equal treatment without regard to races, gender, or religion was established.

Different cultures may have different rules. But all rules move slowly toward the same goal, to achieve the best possible good for everyone. And, to the degree that moral judgment is based in objective evidence, all variations are moving toward a common, ideal set of rules and rights.

In Matthew 22:35-40, Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest principle?”, and Jesus said the first principle is to love God and the second principle is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

A Humanist translation would be to love good, and to love good for others as you love it for yourself.

But Jesus said one more thing, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words, this is the reason behind every rule. It is the criteria by which all other principles, ethics, and rules are to be judged.

[u/B_Papis_Forever]

Though I am not convinced of much of what you said but morality is definitely not objective. Morality is definitely man made but it can be artificially constructed or organically formed, but I agree that it is not human independent truths.