... Or more completely:
Imagine a situation where there are no laws, no written rules of human behavior, no religious principles.
Would the concept of morality still exist?
Would humans soon develop and codify laws to enforce morality?
Would humans behave toward each other in ways that we can recognize as being moral?
Even if they did not behave morally, would immoral acts be recognized as immoral?
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I was thinking about a required-reading book from 7th grade:
Lord of the Flies -- by William Golding
I recall feeling very uncomfortable while reading that book. My internal analysis is that I don't feel good about the idea that we would soon revert to savages. I agree that there is a part of us that is savage and evil -- but I think that we usually suppress it successfully. What makes this book a classic is that the scenario strips away the "learned" morality, leaving the fundamental question:
Is morality more than a set of learned behaviors?
Would we recognize "good" and "evil" if the distinction had never been taught to us?
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