is knowing whats right and wrong?

Question

something that needs to be learned?

Answer 1

I do not think so in all cases.

I think that people have the innate potential for determining what is good, just, and true. However, not all people can tap into their ability because it has been stifled as a result of having been taught. It is so much easier for some people to rely on what they have been force-fed than it is to explore. So, perhaps, learning is the very thing that keeps people from knowing.

It is fathomable that people who are not perceived as "good" by others actually do know but choose to act in opposition to it.

I hope that made sense. :)

Answer 2

Humans seem to need to be taught everything. They have few instincts like the rest of our fellow creatures. So probably for us morality has to be learned, it's not hard-wired. However, some seem much more sensitive than others, much more attuned to the concept. And knowing right from wrong doesn't mean they act accordingly. Then there's the matter of context and prevailing social custom. In primitive societies, kill or be killed is often the norm.

Now, when my dog and I were wrestling one day, she forgot herself, came around behind me and grabbed the back of my neck like I was a puppy. I yelled, and she let go, ran over and sat in the corner of the room, then went to her bedroom and climbed into her bed and stayed there until I assured her all was forgiven. She just knew.

Answer 3

That's a deceptively complex question. I would say the answer is yes and no.

Children demonstrate that some things regarding right and wrong are instinctual when they hide evidence of their wrong doing, even when they haven't necessarily been explicitly taught that particular action was wrong.

On the other hand, it's also obvious that the more complex issues of right and wrong must be learned, either from instruction or from first-hand experience.

Answer 4

Well it DOES depend where you live. Different society's, cultures and country's have different sense of right and wrong.

If you think about it, the things we classify as right and wrong tend to be things "necessary" in order to live "peacefully" alongside other people.... if you lived on your own on a desert island, you could be totally selfish really. Nothing would be "wrong" as such would it? There wouldn't be any consequence apart from your own moral conscience.

In normal society we consider it wrong to walk round naked. But if you were on your own on a hot desert island, walking round naked would seem sensible!

A lot of the rights and wrongs we have are based on bible teachings and law enforcement.

Answer 5

No and Yes. Innate empathy is enough to know that an action that causes another being to suffer is not a good one, but moral reasoning is needed to enhance that basic instinct.

Answer 6

That is a most valued pondering; a treasure of another kind. A good teacher would be wise in showing such fine perils.

Answer 7

the theory in no - we are born with a sence of ourght, the feeling that bad deeds will not go unpunished one presumes a sence of karma.

Answer 8

Of course it is.Everything one knows is learned.

Answer 9

yeah...
we're living in a society...