Sense of morality... can you speculate, please?

Question

This may take a bit of typing to get across, but, please stay with me. :)

People debate from whence a sense of morality comes (or the ideas of right or wrong). It has often been said that you are "taught" right and wrong. Others say your conscience is your guide. (I typically asociate conscience with guilt.) And then, of course, there are a number of God theories.

All of that aside (because I don't think any of them are applicable here) how would you explain the following. Can you speculate why I might have felt as i did? (I will give two examples.)

1. One evening, when I was quite young, perhaps 11, a police car was at a neighbors house. Being the nosey people that we were, everyone in the neighborhood went to hang around outside the neighbor's house to find out what was going on. As it turned out, the man who lived there had been beating his wife. It was not illegal back then. He was considered within his rights, especially considering it was in his own home. Everyone in...

attendance agreed that it was okay. in fact, they went on to say that she deserved it (including my parents). I alone, or so it seemed, thought it was wrong.

2. My uncle beat his wife to the point that she was hospitalized. My mother and some of my aunts went to visit her in the hospital. I heard them talking afterward about how she was unrecognizable. Then I heard staement like "the mouthy b**** deserved it. She should learn to keep her mouth shut." I was the only one who felt this was wrong.

Sorry for any typos, etc. Spell check is a pain when you type this much. :)

Okay, I am not trying to get anyone's opinion on the events in and of themselves. I am trying to understand how someone who had been taught that these things are okay could have such an opposing opinion, especially at such a young age.

"I think there's a lot more you need to tell us. Good luck!"

I think you may have missed the point of me telling those stories. :)

There is nothing I need to tell you. Though I appreciate the concern. Perhaps it will ease your mind to know that I am single and have been for about 14 years. :)

Answer 1

I think that adults have amazing powers of rationalization when it comes to "right" and "wrong". They either relate to the situation and agree with it...or don't...and disagree. Sadly too...adults rely too much on external feedback to make their judgement calls.

Children are still tapped into their moral compasses..the one we're all born with, but somehow lose to our own fears and egos. When I was very young, I was exposed to a lot of negativity that was always "explained away" or rationalized when I questioned it...but inside I KNEW it wasn't right or moral.

Answer 2

Morals and conscience are closely related ideas. My working definition of conscience has always been: What makes you do something when no one is looking. This makes it extremely personal. One factor that we frequently overlook is the consequence of what we're talking about. So, if no one is looking, do you do something you wouldn't do if everyone were looking? Probably. We all do. Little things, like drinking milk from the carton or taking the last chocolate out of the box. But the consequences of these "immoral" acts is really pretty inconsequential. Other morality issues overlap with legal ones. Do you kill someone because they took your parking spot? No, because you feel it's wrong and you don't want the legal consequences.

Your two examples are both spousal abuse. And I don't think you're old enough that wife-beating was OK, as long as you did it at home. So I think you've had some experiences in other places, but you can't reconcile what others around you have said with what a part of you feels is wrong.

I'm with you, mostly. I think sometimes a person will do something really wrong to another person. At that point, the aggrieved person has a choice- deal with it personally, or deal with it legally. And everyone has a cultural sense of scope. If I come in and catch you drinking from the milk carton, I might be justified in scolding you. But not in striking you.

Anger and ignorance perpetuate violence. Not all violence is unjustified, but a lot is. Thus if a wife annoys a husband, perhaps the husband is justified in being annoyed. But not in striking her. If something in a marriage is so bad that striking the woman is the consequence, the husband should have the smarts to deal with it in another manner. And there's not much support for a wife to stay in a marriage where she gets beat.

I think there's a lot more you need to tell us. Good luck!

Answer 3

if none of these people felt remorse during the act or shortly after they could very easily be classified as sociopaths. If none of the witness or commentators of these events felt repulsed by these events then they too would have a diagnoses in the DSM IV waiting for them. However, I do not think these events does your original question justice. Where does our sense of morality come from? Is a very good question. The bible says that there is a code written into our hearts and minds. Natural Selection says that the social group benefited from adopting specific social behaviors. Either way large strong people know that it is wrong for them to pick on or hurt the weak. If they don't feel this they are sick mentally.

But the question is why do we agree with that? Where does that common judgment of these actions come from. It is not a culturally specific belief or phenomena. World over it is excepted that the strong should not hurt the week. I am not sure that there is scientifically refutable evidence from either camp on this. Speculation rules as king here.

Answer 4

Let break it down, morality is referring to morals, which is a learned behavior. Taught early in life. You learn right and wrong from a very young age. Conscience is yourself reminding you of what you learned though you life so far that is right and what society would consider wrong or bad,

Society dictates what behaviors at the moment in time and place is a acceptable and what is not. Just as there was a time that allow men to abuse women just because they though they deserved it and that the spouse had to honor and obey.

What you are most likely feeling that one evening was empathy that you felt sorry for another human being which is no way associated with guilt "You did nothing wrong" .

Answer 5

Every one will have to have intercourse, plenty of it, considering that's what we are meant to do. I suppose it would virtually be regarded an act of worship. Sex is how the whole thing is right here, I like that our global revolves round intercourse, it is kinda comforting to grasp that through merging 2 matters in combination you're making one new factor, if that is not strong I do not know what's. Sexual morality is what it's to a few Christian persons, however it isn't simply Christians, a few religions consider that you just need to be married to have intercourse. You cannot deny that this IS well approach of constructing definite every body will likely be offered for and that the little one can have a dwelling, with a lovely sure father, and defense. I do not suppose that constancy and marriage particularly have a lot to do with faith even though, it is simply simple morals and intelligence should you inquire from me.

Answer 6

There is another possible source of morality - that is our sense of empathy.

A lot of the instances that you described seem to suggest that you empathised with the suffering of those women. That is why your morality was different from that of the adults around you.

Morality is a complicated thing. Its a social construct, that can even be quite extreme (think of the laws in countries where punishment of women are the worst).

On an individual level, morality is influenced not only by social morality, but by the individual's sense of pain, punishment, and accountability.

Answer 7

My personal opinion is that morality doesn't exist. There is no objective moral truths. Morality is just a popular set of codes for people to adhere by for the sake of society(although the same can't be said for certain 'moral values'). And as you say, what one may perceive to be right may be wrong in someone else's eyes.

Answer 8

Your morality came from your training but more importantly on the type of person you are. Sometimes our training is inadequate in making a choice. Even thinking I am making a moral decision may not even enter the situation until later. So whatever sprung from you at that time came from your heart.

Answer 9

I am an american and I beleave that beating a woman is wrong, whatever the motive. If she pulls a knive or a gun, yes she can be beaten. If she has no weapon, there is NO reason for a wife or girlfriend to be beaten. NONE!!!!!! Don't be pulled into the routine frame of mind of some countries. You ar a person and you have rights to your safety. Don't let anyone beat you!!

Answer 10

It might be because you have your own sense of mind. You think for yourself, you are an individual. You dont follow what the arbituary rule that everyone else follows. I get wat u mean..but i cant express what im trying to get acros...sorry..