when did morality enter into the human mind &/or psyche?

Question

A recent answerer to one of my questions stated "Morality exists in all of us because of evolution."
I am curious to know what scientific process proves this statement? If you agree or disagree, can you please explain?
Thank you in advance for kind answers

Answer 1

I do not see that is is likely that morals will result from evolution. On the contrary, all the historical data I know proves otherwise. Man is not kinder and gentler today than he was a thousand years ago. We are more arrogant, more greedy, more vicious and more immoral as time progresses and the scariest thing of all is that most people don't even notice. We as a people have come to accept many of these things as being normal. Man is sinking in a pit of degradation throughout the entire world...not just in a town or two like Sodom and Gemorah. We laugh at evil, we praise violence in our television programming and video games and we honor people who through their life styles offend God at every turn. Love has become a dirty word, honesty has become a rarity in business and government, sexual purity is for uptight religious losers and marriage for keeps is a thing of the past. Even though faith in God is growing by leaps and bounds in this country and throughout the world, the opposition is yelling louder and throwing more bombs and spewing more disgusting propaganda and more and more young people are buying into it. If this world survives for another generation, what will it be then? What will the children of those people believe? Morality is based on a belief in a supreme being (God) that has set a code of conduct for us. Without a belief in that being, people can just go add one more thing to the list of "its okay". It isn't that sin itself has changed so much as it is the fact that sin has become acceptable...even to some Christians.

Answer 2

Well, humans have the abiltiy to think in an abstract way. If they didn't, then there would be no concept of morality. So morality probably arose as the mind expanded due to the development of the brain. And of course, morality is necessary for the survival of the species and to live in a society, because without it, we would all just kill eachother and eat our kids. We need to live in societies because we are not exactly formidible creatures, smart yes, (in comparison) but not a good physical match for many of the predators out there. Our need to live in societies and our social nature makes morality necessary.

Answer 3

If it truly were because of evolution,
then, every other form of animal
would possess the same sense of "morality"
wouldn't they by now?
Not the case and not the case for any living soul.
The answer is simply that even though
God created human souls, animal souls, vegetative souls,
all but human souls were always meant to die in a short time.
Only mankind, made or created in their
(God and his son Jesus') image,
were born with the option or availibility to live forever.
The fact that this wasn't so stems from our first parent's decision to refuse to accept the one and only sign of gratitude for having given us all things
on a silver platter as it were.
Because of the fact that the wages of sins
happens to be death, right now, we die...
but, the ingrain sense of morality
that was instilled in the first man Adam
is very much still in us
ven when we never even heard of God yet.
We just feel so much better when we do good
and if some might argue that fact
and assert that they feel great
n disobeying laws or rules of all sorts,
and if there's an once of truth in their words,
I assure you that such a good feeling for doing "wrong"
is not, nor can it ever be long-term.
Unlike any other life force,
unlike any other animal,
we are born with a conscience.
Sure, some of us train this conscience better than others, especially in this day and age,
but it's still there in all people...
even in those who wonder why
they have seemingly acheived success
as they thought of success but can still not feel happy.
The answer is that their conscience is bothering them
in spite of themselves as the majortiy of the time,
people who reach financial success, as it were,
had to step on so many toes before they arrived there,
that they simply can't feel all that good, inside!!!

Answer 4

There are people who have explored the evolutionary origin of morality (e.g. http://www.imprint.co.uk/books/morality.html). I think the concept of morality can be at two levels: the ego/self level and the deeper level where the self is transcended and one experiences oneself as literally everything. In the former, there are two categories as well: the ego/self can determine morality from a self-centered standpoint of what's beneficial to the self (including what benefits the self in terms of societal and other rules). It can also be a 'higher' form where the ego/self can develop a level of compassion and empathy and understands what it means to suffer and therefore realizes - from one's own experience - how badly it feels to suffer (and this is a high form of morality for the self). Then there's the highest form where others are literally seen as one's self -- where one's self concept literally drops away. In this state, it's pure Morality because there's no thought about what the right thing to do is -- one LITERALLY is the other person. I think evolution applies to the development of the ego/self (consciousness, etc.) and, therefore, the first form of ego/self morality falls into that domain (and maybe the second form). But I don't think the self-transcendent form does.

Answer 5

Other primates demonstrate moral decision making capacity.

Answer 6

Love and righteousness stem from the Lord, as do all good things...

Answer 7

Probably far in the past when our ancestors were schooling fish.

Answer 8

i would say, by socializing were people start to make rules for everyone are treated equal