| Morality Essay, Research Paper
“Morality is the understanding of the way of life. It is generally recognized that intelligence is the commodity that gives humanity power over all” (Atkinson 1). What is not understood is the dependence of this facility on a foundation of unquestioned values and morals. Human values, values learned, understanding values and moral reasoning only emphasize. Without them no life can exist. (”A Study Of Our Decline.”http://www.home.org.morality.html).
In human’s experience and upbringing grow the set of values given at birth. Instincts are built up to form a sophisticated and complex set of beliefs. In society today human values at birth are more diminished and by the way they grow up determines the way their life is going to be. Society today is different for everyone, therefore values are different. This arbitrary set of beliefs is the morality of the individual beyond threat; promise or argument determines the way they see reality. (”Morality”; http://pw2.netcom.com/~dune).
Pumping values into children is like loading the software into a computer. With people it has an irreversible affect. Once rules are set, they are set for life. Resulting behavior may be changed, but not the motivations of the individual. Trying to teach children values without there own experience may push them away and cause them to do wrong. Society needs to let people realize their own basic values and to stop teaching fake ones. The early values are the most important as they become the parent of all subsequent values; later additions though made with a more adult mind, must incorporate previous decisions as those prior decisions are Now beyond the force of reason. (”A Basis For Morality”; http://www.onelife.com/ethics/brule.html).
Understanding is a combination o values and reasoning. The combination of unchangeable values and reason are the mechanism of understanding. This is true not just for individuals but for groups too. So it is the set of values or morals that control the personality and hence the achievements of people and communities. In society today, these things aren’t available. Bad examples are being taught therefor causing people to think that it is right. The combination of ability to reason and a set of basic ethics, against which reason can be applied, is the essential requirement for identity. This combination is necessarily part of all living things, including bacteria, insects and people. Exercising a facility to connect cause and effect is almost mechanical, what gives such transactions their character is the set of founding value they reflect. The difference between the brutes and us is not just a differing power to reason, but the range of values that our reason reflects. (A Study Of Our Decline” http://www. home.org.morality.html).
There can be no intelligence, artificial or organic that can exist without a set of values and morals. It is an essential part of every creature’s mind; it is the foundation of its identity. Morality is not just a set of values but an integral part of ourselves formed in childhood. It dictates how we see the world. And if things were good, then bad values wouldn’t be placed in the minds of society. “Morality is a branch of life that cannot be cut off. Without that branch the tree will die.” (Atkinson 14) (A Study Of Our Decline” http://www. home.org.morality.html).
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