**Now back to morals **
In an earlier post you mentioned that one source of the moral base is learning. This indicates the individual sets all his personal morals through accepting and rejecting potential morals. In another post it was indicated “Humanism” is a source maybe dependent or independent of each other. Now may be I confused the issue by stating early that humanism=God, so I’ll slow down on that issue.
The process of evolution through learning and observation, yes.
When we are born, we have no “concept” of a god, nor of “His” writings, commands nor teachings. We are only aware of that which is in our immediate worldview; mother and father.
Mother feeds us, clothes us, warms us, protects us. She is everything, and we glean our first concepts of what is “right” and what is “wrong” and why. We even learn from her what “right and wrong” mean as concepts in our new world.
We also learn what these concepts mean in the confines of our culture and group. These can differ greatly depending on our cultural heritage, traditions and tribe. The morality of right and wrong is not innate, but learned.
Example: Female circumcision is an accepted practice in much of the Islamic world. According to THEIR moral code, this is not only acceptable and correct, but it is ALSO traditional in their culture.
However abhorrent this practice may seem to you and I in the West, it is part of their moral framework and rationality.
Now, is it morally right or morally wrong? (Remember, they can point out references in the Quran that agree with their view.)
So here we go in the earlier post morals are only what the individual defines morals to be. The key here is it is only what the individual thinks not intrinsic. In the latter case the individual in theory subordinates* to a group of such thinkers but again morals are only what the group thinks not intrinsic. Is this accurate to you?
No. You are confusing the “Blank Slate” theory with the “Developmental Theory.”
The theory of the “Blank Slate” postulates that we all start our lives on equal footing, but that theory has been proven inaccurate. Studies of brain-wave activity as well as activity in contrasting portions of the cerebellum show that this is not true.
The “Developmental Theory” states that we are given to right-side/left-side thinking. Those with accelerated brain function in the right hemisphere are prone to excel in areas of logic and reason (science and mathematics.) Those with accelerated brain function in the left hemisphere are prone to excel in areas of imagination (art and writing).
- In theory all thinkers are equal, exactly equal, so no thinker is smarter, or better at influencing the group, however in the real world the smart and more manipulative thinkers control a disproportional amount of the group decision
