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Old 09-12-2011, 11:32 AM  
sperbonzo
I'd rather be on my boat.
 
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Join Date: May 2003
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Basically the standards of good and evil do not exist as a basic part of the human mind. In the beginning, as babies, humans are utterly self centered. They do whatever it takes to satisfy their own needs and wants. Any action which results in them getting what they need or want successfully is "moral" to a small child. If this behavior is never amended in any way by outside influences, i.e. parents and society, then the behavior will never change and the child will forever do whatever it can do to successfully satisfy itself. Parents and society, in an effort to work together in a more co-operative way, for mutual benefit, change a child's behavior by making the satisfying of wants and needs be based upon a set of rules and codes. The child learns that only by following these rules and codes, (everything from politeness to restraining their desire to assault someone to take what they want), will be rewarded by getting the child what it craves, including emotional satisfaction, and that NOT following these guidelines will result in the child NOT getting what it wants.

Thus it is parents and society that "civilize" a child and make it "moral", according to the guiding principles of that society. If you raise a child in a society where murder and cannibalizm somehow worked on a long-term basis as a way for that society to keep working, where these behaviors actually were lauded, admired and rewarded, then the child would grow to think that this was "moral" behavior. The reason why these types of behaviors have never become part of "civilization" is simply due to the fact that they don't work for long-term success in a social community.



In short, there is no "better nature", inherent in people, it is instilled in us by various clues, sometimes very subtle, in the society around us.





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