Are morals even real?

Italy
January 28, 2007 5:16am CST
first, define morals. ive seen some people put down some good thoughts then get ripped cause they didnt define something, lol. so here goes. Morals- What a person bases their ideology of a "good"/"bad" human being on. having done that, let me continue. a moral is neither right, nor wrong, as it is a persons opinion of what is right and wrong, and, as Jeremyhfht and i have discovered, ones opinion can neither be right nor wrong. So we have established morals cannot be wrong(or right). But, if a moral is neither wrong, nor right, then why does it matter what ones morals are? if morals are neither wrong nor right, then doesnt that just kind of blow the def. of morals right out of the water? How can you be a "good" person if there is no "final" def. of a "good" person? does anyone see where im going with this?
1 response
29 Jan 07
Why can one's opinion be neither right nor wrong? And in what sense do you mean that? Do you mean that it can't be morally right or wrong or it can't be correct or incorrect? Its true that morals can only ever be personal opinion (unless you believe in a God who has laid down some universal truths about right and wrong) but that doesn't mean that they aren't right or wrong for that person. Most of what we believe is conjecture. I believe that the sun will come up tomorrow morning but that is only because I have seen a consistent correlation between the sun coming up and the rotation of the clock but a correlation isn't conclusive. My belief that this will happen is based on the best evidence I have available to me as are all my moral choices. We can use a certain amount of reasoning to draw conclusions about ethical behaviour. For example, we know that societies formed because there are many advantages to being a part of a group. In order to be accepted as part of a group we must gain a certain amount of respect from other group members, therefore, it is in our own best interest to adopt a morality which condemns behaviour that is harmful to others. There is no final definition of a good person but there is also no final definition of beauty or justice or any number of other abstract concepts but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. We all perceive the EXISTENCE of good, truth, beauty, justice etc. and that means that there is some consensus. There also tends to be some core notions within each which MOST people agree on. The fact that there is not a universally agreed upon definition does not mean that our personal definition has no validity.