Morality is defined as behavior that reflects the difference between right and wrong. But morality actually has many different definitions according to our society. Some people might say morality is culturally determined and certain culture's values should be considered wrong just because someone else's culture is different. For example, women in the Middle East have to wear scarves around their heads to cover their hair and entire face except for their eyes. They're not allowed to leave their house without their husband by their side and the men are allowed to abuse them whenever they feel like it. But if we were to step in and try to change that wouldn't we ourselves be considered wrong for imposing our own personal morals on others? For generations, society has depended on its ancestors’' beliefs and passed them down which basically means social conformity has been created. Another factor is competition; ever since they cavemen existed we all compete in order to survive even if that meant stealing or harming one another. That of course we before morality was even determined but basically we did whatever we wanted to ad eventually learned from the consequences.
Someone can be moral and commit an immoral action simply because they're unaware that is wrong in the first place. It’s all based on a person’s opinion for example a few hundred years ago we thought slavery was perfectly acceptable because it provided people with wealth and power by gaining control over inferior people. But now a majority of people believe blacks should not be kept as slaves, not just according to the Constitution but to Christians as well. It's perhaps one of the few issues government and religion issues agree with. Whoever doesn't believe in God is left with the need to make decisions in order to survive. Either way both in the religious and political perspective we all want what would constitute a good life. Without moral codes our societies would crumble and chaos would occur.
Tina, I like that you chose the topic of of slavery explore. Especially, given that at the time, many people believed that their labor was no different than that of the horse that pulls a carriage.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of this: Let's say take the movie Terminator (And I just realized I may be dating myself, so the premise is a good cyborg comes back in time to protect the human, John Connor, who will eventually grow up to save the human race from the evil cyborgs).
Now, let's say that John Conners is the decedent of slaves. Without slavery his ancestors may never have come to America and John never attends the university where he became tech. savvy enough to stop the cyborg domination.
It certainly doesn't make slavery a moral choice. However, let's say that you're the Terminator in charge of going back in time to ensure John Connor grows up to save the human race. You're sent back to the beach where the captured slaves are being loaded on to the ship. You have to decide; do you stop the slave trade or do you let it happen knowing that if you don't stop it, John Connor will, in fact, be born in America and grow up to save the human race?
I used a very similar example in my blog post about women in the Middle East, but I didn’t go into whether it is immoral to try and change their customs because we think they are wrong, this question gave me something to think about. I believe that whether our actions are immoral or not depends on whether the women are freely choosing to cover their hair and only appear in public with their husbands or if they are forced to for fear of punishment. If it is their choice than we should not interfere, but if they are only complying out of fear than it would be immoral not to help them. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteTo Mike Lewis: I always like a good Terminator reference, but the Terminator is a machine which brings up the question do machines have morals? Probably not, they're desinged for a purpose.
ReplyDeletei like the view on slavery, just as everyone else commented about. but it is a huge moral part in our society back when it was morally right. i think its good to re-visit that because it gives us as the reader a little reflection saying "hey, its so immoral, but back then it was considered right" and i think some people need to be reminded of that.
ReplyDeleteI love your examples of society because they don't hide the truth at all about the world. We have a lot of issues in the world and morals cause many of them. People should always be able to chose their own path especially in the united states but to a point. Id like to bring up your point about the women wearing scarves around their necks in the middle east and letting their husbands beat them. I mean sure we should respect their morals but there's a point where we should step in I think. Do you think we should interfere with that issue as a country or stay out of it?
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