morals serious talk

[u/silly___bird]

I see a lot of debates here about “good” and “bad” behaviors/acts, or about human rights in general. But whenever I try to think about it objectively, I always reach the same conclusion that there is no such a thing as defined "bad" or "good".

From a pure objective point of view, a human is free to do whatever they are capable of doing, as long as it doesn’t conflict with their own interests. But everytime I ask someone to explain why exactly things like killing, rape...down to lying (which i consider bad according to my moral code) are objectively bad, most of people here usually laugh, dismiss the question, or treat it as self-evident like it’s an axiom we aren't supposed to question.

But history and psychology show us that what we label as “bad” has not always been seen that way:

in roman gladiator games killing was entertainment for the masses.

Vikings and Mongols raiding and violence were celebrated as honorable.

Hitler and the Nazis genocide was framed as a “necessary good” for their vision of society, and millions followed.

people like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer admitted they enjoyed acts society calls horrific.

epstein's island.

some individuals even enjoy violent fantasies or claim to have found pleasure in situations we would normally call “assault.”

appreciate any shared thoughts

[u/Aggravating_Lie_2017]

It is true that an absolute and objective morality doesn't exist because every action happening in the universe is just an unconscious chemical and physical reaction therefore it is neither bad or good, just neutral. It is only when seen through a living creature's lenses that morality can take place and label an act as either good or bad based on whether it leads to better chances at surviving or not.

Us humans are gregarious animals who need the help of other humans in order to survive, anything harmful to the group is to the indiviual. so even from purely selfish individualistic standpoint the others become just as important as oneself. this drived evolution to create and select traits like empathy and compassion, the ability to feel what others feel, which leads every indiviual to consider and treat the group as an extention of themselves.

i don't wanna be hurt-> i don't wanna hurt others.

i don't wanna get stolen -> i don't steal either.

and so on...

From that developed more complexe feelings like the sense of fairness, equality, justice and other traits that built the behaviors that keep the group from falling apart and helped us survive. At first it originates from instincts then is aquired through mimicking and shaped by environment. those implied sets of rules that dictates human behavior is what we call morality. As time goes, we evolve and get smarter and our societies gets mixed and more complexe, the morality follows and adapts aswell. the "group" gets larger we tend toward more equality...

Obviously the more close a person is to you the more the priority. and vice versa, until the person isn't considered a part of the group anymore and therefore will likely be treated as a threat and morality won't be applied. and most of the time we are too stupid and lack the capacity to make the right decisions even for ourselves. not everyone is capable of empathy, mental illnesses can happen to anyone. and so conflict of interest because life isn't just and perfect. that's why there wars and people hurt each other.

in the end we're just animals trying to survive on a floating rock in space.

[u/silly___bird → u/Aggravating_Lie_2017]

Thanks for the perfect explanation of how morals work but I found what I was looking for at the first and the last paragraphs