Study Says Humans Acquired Morality from Primates, Not Religion (evolution, religions, science)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
See how quickly people get upset? It was just a study; one man's opinion.
It's just more proof of man's origins.
Just in case there be any doubts, here's a short home video of the one and only CD Religion Forum regulars get together a couple years back. I'm second from the right, chilling with a tall cold one.
I agree with the study. As one poster here said, it should be self-evident, really, since we can see what we'd immediately and assuredly call morality in many, many social animals. Indeed, it is for the purpose of our all being able to get along; there being strength in numbers, being societal can have its pluses and this is how we, along with various other creatures, evolved.
We don't necessarily *not* kill because we *want* to not kill. (Oy, Grammar Police, please don't shoot me.) Rather, we generally don't kill because it's been ingrained in us from a very early age that it is wrong...because teaching that to each generation ensures our continued survival as a group. And seemingly, at least at a glance, paradoxically, we *will* change that morality and kill someone (or some group -- i.e., in war, or in capital punishment) if that person is *more of a threat* to society than the repercussions of obviously going against a "commandment"...if that makes sense. Same with societal animals, who can and will oust "criminals" from the group or, if the crime is bad enough, tear them apart then and there.
And seemingly, at least at a glance, paradoxically, we *will* change that morality and kill someone (or some group -- i.e., in war, or in capital punishment) if that person is *more of a threat* to society than the repercussions of obviously going against a "commandment"...if that makes sense.
It makes perfect sense when you consider the mental and theological summersaults that Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas performed to formulate the concept of the Just War.
I just read an article on chimp children. It was not about morals, yet it was interesting as it showed that we are much closer to chimps than we think. It said that in experiments primate girls (in both chimps and rhesus monkeys) prefer to play with dolls and plush animals, while almost all males prefer to play with toy cars
It is also common for chimps to play with wooden sticks. Here too there is a gender difference. Chimp girls use sticks mostly as a symbol of their own children that they don't have yet. They carry the sticks with them wherever they go, including their nests when they sleep. Similar to human girls and dolls or plush animals. As soon as they have their own babies, they no longer carry sticks around.
Chimp boys on the other hand mainly use such sticks as toy weapons or when looking for ants. Chimp girls use them that way, too, but never the same stick that they use as a symbol of their own babies
Whatever the advantages or disadvantages, it seems that this line of research is showing that morality is based on evolved behaviour. Not god - given rules.
Morality is relative even in religion. It changes often and drastically. Moral absolutes is a fiction. What I predict will come out of studies like this is a branch of evolution called social evolution (can't you just hear the theists screaming 'social engineering! Darwinist eugenics! Pol Pot!') and the result would be to develop the fairest and most tolerant social system we can, rather than try to push outmoded ideas of 'The moral compass' or 'God - given moral absolutes'. They should go in the bin along with Jonah's whale and Matthew's star.
This is jut another way of trying to get rid of the world's religions (or at least their power) and make the whole worlk secular.
Charles Sands
Smyrna, TN
Right, right.
Because primatologists are in on the conspiracy...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
