What are some basic morals, which almost all societies adhere to?

Question

Are there morals, which seem to be basic to the whole human race? What are they?

hopping for a a website?

Answer 1

C. S. Lewis begins his argument for the existence of God by noting that all people argue AS IF there is an objective morality independent of what anyone wishes.

A relevant quote:
If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Creeks and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own. Some of the evidence for this I have put together in the appendix of another book called The Abolition of Man; but for our present purpose I need only ask the reader to think what a totally different morality would mean. Think of a country where people were admired for running away in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. Men have differed as regards what people you ought to be unselfish to--whether it was only your own family, or your fellow countrymen, or everyone. But they have always agreed that you ought not to put Yourself first. selfishness has never been admired. Men have differed as to whether you should have one wife or four. But they have always agreed that you must not simply have any woman you liked.
http://www.bible-reading.com/mere_ch1.html

All people assume a moral realm when they use words like should or ought. This realm is certainly not something we can physically locate in the world. It can only be explained by a metaphysical Author.

Romans 1 captures similar reasoning by St. Paul.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 2

Basic morals which all societies SHOULD adhere to is just to treat others as they wish to be treated by others, namely being kind, truthful and respect others. But I cant name the basic morals which ALL societies adhere to cause there's always a group of people in any given societies in this world who are just too self centered to give a damn about others.

Answer 3

I would think all morals are prevalent in every society, but degrees of importance will vary with individuals. I would agree with the others that murder and sexual misconduct would be at the top of the list. To search the web for such information basically brings up, when I've looked, the various organizations, religions, etc. and their own code of conduct. I know of no one site that covers this. Maybe something you can start yourself?

Answer 4

Parents shouldn't sleep with their kids. That's about the only set in stone, inalterable one. Most other things, you can find a culture that has a few exception clauses for it. Murder's bad, but you can kill if you're a soldier, the government, or defending yourself here in the US. Other cultures allow for honor killings, infanticide, or euthanasia. Cannibalism's bad, unless you're a member certain tribes that practise it on enemies or criminals or on their dead. Theft's bad, unless you are in a culture that allows you to cheat certain other groups or you're a white upper-class European explorer and they're brown or black people. Yeah, it goes on like that. Humans have probably tried pretty much everything by this point, and whatever doesn't work dies out. Parent on child sexual abuse pretty well screws up the kids, and, because there aren't any societies that operate like that, we can safely assume that it can't work.

Answer 5

If by moral you mean norm, which is a rule that is enforced by society, the incest taboo is pretty universal.
its one of the VERY few that almost all cultures agree upon. I think there may be 2-3 that don't but its rare.

Answer 6

Seems to me that most societies don't like or care much for adultery, they all seem to look down on it though rather than punish anyone for it. Or just look the other way and pretend they didn't know what happened.

Answer 7

You might be interested in reading Freud's book "Totem and Taboo" It deals with this topic specifically. Incest is one of the most commonly looked down upon activities cross culturally.

Answer 8

There are none. Morality is socially constructed not absolute.

Answer 9

umm, canilbalism

just stuff that just does not feel right, like stuff that violates God's Laws, b/c that's where we get morals from

:D

Answer 10

very rare for a universal moral, but ALL societies have some sort of "incest taboo" that they practice. they are different because people see their relatives differently in different cultures, but all people have some sort of incest taboo.