If there is a soul then why is morality affected by the physical world?

Question

Six people with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were presented with moral dilemmas (e.g., would you smother a baby to prevent bad guys from finding and killing people in hiding) and were found to be two to three times more willing to kill than people without brain damage. The advertised conclusion is that such willingness to kill is objectively immoral. The feared conclusion is that if brain design determines what's moral, you can change morality by changing the brain—and once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology.

Answer 1

Yes I know. That's how we train soldiers.

Answer 2

GREAT question!

Nicholesta said: "I propose that there is one optimum design that yields a fully functional brain. Removing a persons capacity to make moral decisions has reduced their functionality leaving them damaged. Morality as a concept still exists but they can not perceive it anymore. They have not been redesigned but simply had a part of their potential removed. An example of a similar operation would be to remove a persons ability to hear. They can no longer appreciate music but the quality of the music is unchanged. The inability to perceive music has not changed its quality. "

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

I have always believed that because even one of us is capable of understanding a concept, the concept exists...even if the rest of the world is blind to it. The concept of morality would still exist even if there were no brains left on earth capable of conceiving of it. It sounds like this kind of brain injury takes us back to a kind of limbo between the animal and the self-aware.

Because it not only has been conceived of, but because there will be the potential to conceive of it...should a fully functional or possibly bigger, better brain come along...morality still exists. I just doesn't apply. An animal can't be held accountable for killing, because it did not understand right from wrong. Neither can a human being be held accountable if they can't judge what is right or wrong. It just means that they're broken and imperfect.

It feels like the tip of the iceberg, doesn't it? What other concepts are out there, beyond our scope? Waiting for us to grow into our brains enough to understand it all? Very cool quesiton. :)

Answer 3

Interesting.
I offer a counter argument but I do not maintain that I am right, I am simply offering this for discussion.
If design determines morality then the possible conclusion is that morality is an illusion. It is simply an effect of one possible design and others yield a different effect. Each design being equally valid or invalid.
I propose that there is one optimum design that yields a fully functional brain. Removing a persons capacity to make moral decisions has reduced their functionality leaving them damaged. Morality as a concept still exists but they can not perceive it anymore. They have not been redesigned but simply had a part of their potential removed. An example of a similar operation would be to remove a persons ability to hear. They can no longer appreciate music but the quality of the music is unchanged. The inability to perceive music has not changed its quality.

Answer 4

Well, I don't believe the soul has much to do with what you are talking about. I believe that our soul is not centered in one particular place within our bodies.
As for the outside world affecting our ethics and morality... we are always being presented with choices to make. It is our own personal ethical standards that determine how we behave.
Right now science and technology has advanced faster than our ethics. We can do things we were never able to do before, like the possibility of medical science being able to tamper with our brains to dictate our morality. I know it isn't possible now, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
The moral or ethical question is, are we justified in doing something, just because we can? Can we justify manipulating genetics for what ever reason?
But in my opinion none of this has to do with the soul.

Answer 5

Morality is affected by the physical world because our souls our linked to the physical word by reason of our bodies.

Our bodies house our souls.

St. Paul calls our physical body the temple of the Holy Spirit, so what we do with our bodies affects our souls.

In the example you gave the key might be human reason, which comes from the brain. When the brain is damaged, our capacity for reason becomes clouded, and reason is inextricably tied to morality.

i.e. God's laws make sense. They are reasonable and reasonable people obey them.

But a brain-damaged person has lost use of his reason so certainly his decision making skills and ability to put ethics into practice, will be compromised seriously.

Answer 6

Excellent question!

The mind brain relationship is complex and is certainly not yielding its secrets readily, but there is evidence that the mind and the brain may not be the same thing, but that they are interrelated. That said, I would suggest that higher order thinking such as deciding between who should live and who should die is a function written on our minds in the biological equivalent of software. These functions do not comprise the mind, rather they hinder and help the mind in its access to the body. I believe that this control function has been written on the mind by God, and absent this mechanism, the sinfulness of man would run rampant.

Theory and conjecture on my part? You bet.

Tom

Answer 7

I thought morality was a set of laws that are agreed upon by society to help us all get along and not fight or be hurt. If you've got a messed up brain, then you don't care about these laws anymore because they only apply to sane people. Mothers that smother their babies in moments of panic have lost their minds temporarily in an effort to protect themselves. When they recover, they suffer a lifelong grief and a very heavy burden of guilt and shame. I would die to have peace for the world. Too bad that hasn't worked yet. For everyone to have peace, we all need to be dead, I guess.

Answer 8

Thats why people with those types of deficensies will get a a one way trip to heaven . That is a pretty good moral dilemma though but why does one have to have brain damage to answer that question .

Answer 9

That is the problem God made technology and man abuses it.
Another thing you do not have to have brain damage to do damage. You are blessed when you are content with just who you are---no more no less.That is when you find you are a proud owner of everything that can not be bought. We are spirit, soul, and body. Morality will always be affected by the physical world. As long as there is sin.

Answer 10

Hi lets get words streight in The begining God created mankind and breathed into man in Gen 2:7 and He "BECAME" a living soul, a soul is what you BECOME it IS NOT something God pokes into you, and also Jesus said in murder Matt.19:18 and Jesus according to Heb.13:8,
John 8:58, John 1 IS GOD so if God said do not do that then "IF" you Love Him [John 14:15] than keep His commandments [NOT suggestions] learn more free bible lessons www.amazingfacts.org talk to me also [e-mail] God bless

Answer 11

I think we are realizing that the sense of self comes from the brain. Cut off a leg and have a heart transplant and you are still "you." Cut the brain....

Interesting study, remember where you saw it?